Managing and governing commodity chains: the role of producer service firms in the secondary global city of Hamburg

This paper is motivated by the observation that our understanding of global cities in Germany and beyond is limited because the practices through which producer service firms (PSFs) are involved in managing and governing their clients’ global commodity chains (GCCs) have barely been studied. Based on interviews with representatives of PSFs in the secondary global city of Hamburg, the paper scrutinises whether and how service professionals contribute to the functioning and the control of their clients’ cross-border operations. It also analyses why clients choose global PSFs located in Hamburg, and it discusses which place Hamburg occupies in the network of German global cities. The paper concludes that because PSFs fulfil management functions for their clients’ global operations Hamburg is, beyond the role of its port, a critical node in many GCCs. Secondly, PSFs influence their clients’ decision-making processes. They are part of economic governance processes, though this impact cannot be straightforwardly equated with ‘command and control’. The paper also confirms that (and explains why) the world city network is the spatial correlate of a globalising economy. Finally, there is no such a thing as a ‘global city hierarchy’ because the division of labour between the offices of PSFs is functional. As regards further research, a first task is to verify this paper’s findings through interviews with clients of PSFs to consolidate our knowledge on the role of PSFs in GCCs. Secondly, the contention that the world city network is flat has to be re-examined against the backdrop of an evident clustering of PSFs in specific cities. Finally, the discussion of whether and how PSFs are involved in the governance of their clients‘ GCCs needs to be continued and deepened

Shifting corporate geographies in global cities of the South: Mexico City and Johannesburg as case studies

oai:ojs.die-erde.org:article/1Global city research links the expansion of advanced producer services in major cities to the internationalisation of real estate markets as well as to the spread of (mainly) high-rise office complexes. This research, however, has based its findings mainly on cases of the Global North. This paper examines, based on Grant and Nijman’s (2002) suggestion that the “internal spatial organisation of gateway cities in the less-developed world” reflects “the city’s role in the global political economy”, which patterns occur in two metropoles of the Global South. In addition to this, the analysis focuses especially on the driving forces behind the changes in corporate geographies. The analysis is placed in Mexico City and Johannesburg and based on real estate market data (offices) as well as background documents on urban development. The outcome shows that in these cities, local transformation processes of the real estate market and office space location are indeed considerably shaped by global market dynamics. However, the findings also indicate that there is no clear scale dependence of the territorial form. In order to comprehensively understand the changes in the corporate geographies therefore, it is necessary to direct more attention to local and national dynamics. The restructuring of the built environment in both cities can only be grasped fully by considering the particular role of local and national governments. This additional entry point to an understanding of shifting corporate geographies helps to put recent dynamics of global capitalism and politics of urban neoliberalism in perspective

Globalisierung, Transformation und Neoliberalismus in Lateinamerika:: Neue Literatur zum Thema

With the debt crisis of 1982 fundamental transformations began in Latin America. State centered forms of development were abandoned in favour of liberal strategies, oriented to the world market. New literature discussing this transformation process and its outcomings is reviewed

La ciudad de México: ¿una ciudad global?

Las ciudades juegan un papel importante en el proceso de globalización de las sociedades. Ese proceso integra, como puntos nodales, a las "ciudades mundiales" o " globales"; quizá por ello es que los estudios urbanos, cada vez con más frecuencia, toman en cuenta aspectos globales en sus análisis. Hasta ahora, el estudio de las relaciones entre globalización y desarrollo urbano se aplica, casi exclusivamente, a las metrópolis del 'norte', ya que en las ciudades del 'sur' todavía domina una perspectiva nacional

Kunst basteln

Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit der ersten Zusammenarbeit des Schweizer Künstlerduos Peter Fischli und David Weiss, der Wurstserie von 1979. Neben einer ausführlichen Analyse der Serie widmet sich die Arbeit dem Kontext der subkulturellen Zürcher Szene zwischen Kunst und Punk, in der die Künstler in dieser Zeit verkehrten. Dieser Kontext, so die Argumentation der Arbeit, ist wichtig für das Verständnis nicht nur der Wurstserie, sondern der künstlerischen Sprache und Anliegen von Fischli und Weiss überhaupt. Dabei liegt der kulturwissenschaftlich geprägte Blickwinkel auf künstlerischen und kulturellen Strategien, was einen Vergleich verschiedenen kultureller Phänomene ermöglicht. Punk war insbesondere für Fischli wichtig, der für befreundete Bands Plattencovers und Promotionsmaterial gestaltete. Die Szene zwischen Kunst und Punk war 1980 Thema der Ausstellung „Saus und Braus. Stadtkunst“ in Zürich, in deren Rahmen auch die Wurstserie ausgestellt wurde. Die Ausstellung fiel auf den von massiven Jugendunruhen geprägten „heißen Sommer 1980“ und gilt rückblickend als Marker für einen Aufbruch der Schweizer und insbesondere Zürcher Kunstszene. Eine Untersuchung dieser Kontexte zeigt eine Verdichtung an Themen und kulturellen Strategien. Bricolage (nach Claude Lévi-Strauss) und Dilettantismus als für die Wurstserie konstitutive Strategien werden auf die Rezeption und Erfahrung von Punk zurückgeführt. Die in der Wurstserie festzustellende Spannung zwischen einer „warmen“, persönlich anmutenden bastlerischen Umsetzung und einer „kühlen“, unpersönlich-allgemeintypischen Themenwahl spiegelt den Zürich um 1979/80 prägenden Diskurs um eine „kalte“ Moderne und Möglichkeiten der Authentizität wieder. In der Conclusio werden diese Verdichtungen in den Kontext des Postmoderne-Diskurses gestellt und auch Jacques Derridas Auffassung von Bricolage für die Wurstserie fruchtbar gemacht.This paper deals with the first collaboration of the Swiss artist duo Peter Fischli and David Weiss, the Sausage Series from 1979. Apart from an extensive analysis of the work, the focus of the paper lies on its social and cultural context of a subcultural scene between art and punk in Zurich, where Fischli and Weiss were regulars. The paper argues that this context is necessary for the understanding of the Sausage Series and furthermore of the artistic language which Fischli and Weiss had developed in their early work and elaborated throughout their carrier to date. Punk was especially important for Fischli who had designed record covers and promotional material for befriended bands. The scene between punk and art in Zurich was the topic of the exhibition „Saus und Braus. Stadtkunst“ of 1980, in which course the Sausage Series was publicly presented. The exhibition took place during the massive youth riots in Zurich and is now regarded as one of the markers of the Swiss art scene gaining new momentum and self-esteem around that time. The discussion of these contextes shows a concentration of topics and cultural strategies. Bricolage (as defined by Claude Lévi-Strauss) and dilettantism as constitutive strategies of the Sausage Series are traced back to the experience of Punk. The tension of the work between a „warm“, seemingly personal, handicraft realization and a „cool“, impersonal choice of themes has to be seen in relation to a key discourse of that time in Zurich dealing with a modernity grown „cold“ and possibilities of authenticity. The conclusive chapter discusses these themes in relation to the postmodernity discourse and applies Derridas bricolage-term to the Sausage Series

Städtesystem

Der Begriff Städtesystem bezeichnet die Summe der Städte in einer räumlichen Einheit und ihre Verbindungen. Ziel der Forschung ist es, funktionale Verflechtungen und Hierarchien zu identifizieren. Aufgrund von Theoriemangel und methodischem Nationalismus sind die Ergebnisse der Städtesystemforschung unzureichend geblieben

Agency and practice in the making of global cities: towards a renewed research agenda

Agency and practice in the making of global cities: towards a renewed research agend

Zur EU-Konsultation Urheberrecht: Es betrifft uns alle

Von Dezember 2013 bis März 2014 lud die EU dazu ein, zu verschiedenen urheberrechtlichen Fragen Stellung zu nehmen. In einer Gruppe von KollegInnen der Initiative Medienbildung Jetzt! haben wir einiges daran gesetzt, die für medienpädagogisches Arbeiten relevanten Fragen herauszuarbeiten und Positionen zu formulieren, wie ein angemessener urheberrechtlicher Rahmen für unserer Arbeit aussehen könnte. Das Resultat kann auf www.medienbildungjetzt.at nachgelesen werden