Commodity Chains and World Cities

Ben Derudder is Professor of Human Geography at Ghent University. He is also Associate Director of the Globalization and World Cities research group and network (GaWC). His research focuses on the conceptualization and empirical analysis of transnational urban networks, the importance of business travel in the space economy, and the impact of the globalization of transport and production on urban development. Frank Witlox is Professor of Economic Geography at Ghent University. He is also Associate Director of the Globalization and World Cities group and network (GaWC), and a visiting professor at the Institute of Transport and Maritime Management Antwerp (ITMMA). His research focuses on transport economics and geography, city logistics, world cities and globalization, and urban planning.

"The Global Commodity Chain framework looks at the interconnected functions, operations, and transactions through which specific commodities are produced, distributed, and consumed. The purpose here is to assess the possible cross-fertilization of the two in order to strengthen the critique of conventional state-centric social science that both engage in separately. Contributors whose disciplines are not revealed - presumably economists and geographers like the editors - consider such topics as exploring the role of Mexico City in the geography of global economic governance, urban places in the system of chains, and intra-firm and extra-firm linkages in the knowledge economy as exemplified by the emerging mega-city where Munich once stood." (Reference and Research Book News, February 2011)

• 1. World Cities and Global Commodity Chains: An introduction (Ben Derudder and Frank Witlox). 2. World City Networks and Global Commodity Chains: Towards a World-Systems' Integration (Ed Brown, Ben Derudder, Christof Parnreiter, Wim Pelupessy, Peter J. Taylor and Frank Witlox).3. Global cities in Global Commodity Chains: Exploring the Role of Mexico City in the Geography of Global Economic Governance (Christof Parnreiter).4. City Networks and Commodity Chains: Identifying Global Flows and Local Connections in Ho Chi Minh City (Ingeborg Vind and Niels Fold).5. Cities, Material Flows and the Geography of Spatial Interaction: Urban Places in the System of Chains (Markus Hesse).6. Integrating World Cities into Production Networks: The Case of Port Cities (Wouter Jacobs, Cesar Ducruet and Peter De Langen).7. Intra-firm and Extra-firm Linkages in the Knowledge Economy: The Case of the Emerging Mega-city Region of Munich (Stefan Lüthi, Alain Thierstein and Viktor Goebel).8. Making Connections: Global Production Networks and World City Networks (Neil M. Coe, Peter Dicken, Martin Hess and Henry Wai-Cheung Yeung).9. Global Inter-city Networks and Commodity Chains: Any Intersections? (Saskia Sassen).Index.