A selection of recent papers by GaWC researchers, published during the transition to our new website:
Neal, Z.P., Derudder, B. and van Meeteren, M. (2024) ‘When is a matrix a geographical network?’, Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 114 (8), 1631-1638.
Geographical networks are spatial networks in which the nodes have a socially constructed meaning; nodes represent places. All geographical networks can be represented as matrices, but not all matrices in geography represent networks. We argue that a matrix must have at least three properties to represent a geographical network: The rows and columns must represent places that can be associated through the interaction of interest, the entries must represent interactions that have significance beyond dyads, and the values of the entries must be a valid operationalization of the interaction of interest. We illustrate the relevance of the three properties through examples from the city networks literature. These properties serve as guidelines to help geographers determine whether a network analysis of their data is appropriate.
https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2023.2271562 (Open access)
Derudder, B., Govind, A. and Taylor, P.J. (2024) ‘City connectivity in the office networks of the world’s largest banking firms’, Finance and Space, 1 (1), 17-20.
This visualisation specifies a possible map of international financial centres (IFCs) at the nexus of relational approaches to financial centres and approaches looking at the geographies of corporate organisation in finance. We chart interactions between the offices of 75 of the world’s largest banking firms and aggregate these at the city scale to estimate cities’ centrality in global finance. The three most connected cities are Hong Kong, New York and London but the map, above all, shows overlapping polycentric patterns. The map is intended as a starting point for critical interrogation and formative research into finance and space.
https://doi.org/10.1080/2833115X.2023.2265622
Pain, K., Zhu, B., Derudder, B. and Taylor, P.J. (2024) ‘The spatial interlocking of commercial office real estate and advanced producer services: a central flow theory lens’, International Journal of Urban Sciences.
The paper extends geographical enquiry into the external urban relations described by central flow theory in an exploration of the roles of commercial office real estate (CORE) and advanced producer services (APS) as a conduit for inter-city flows of finance in corporate globalization. The analysis investigates and benchmarks the spatial overlap between these city-based service networks and uses this to consider how their respective servicing strategies influence international capital flows. We find that the networks are interlocked, as the connectivity in one network can significantly explain the connectivity in the other. Both CORE and APS services promote cross-border flows of finance. Cities providing multinational CORE and APS services are able to articulate direct as well as indirect inter-city capital flows and spillovers to non-service sectors.
https://doi.org/10.1080/12265934.2024.2358092 (Open access)
Watson, A., Derudder, B. and Hoyler, M. (2023) ‘Transnational media corporations in global media cities: a geographical approach to understanding media power through corporate office networks’, Global Media and Communication, 19 (3), 399-423.
A central concern of media scholars has been the discursive and economic power of a small number of transnational media corporations (TNMCs). In this paper, we advance research on TNMC power through a novel empirical analysis of their global-spatial organization, reflected in their corporate global office networks. Our findings reveal both global and regional corporate strategies and, further, demonstrate how US new media firms are expanding into Chinese global media cities to penetrate this emerging media market. Our analyses provide a crucial macro-level overview of the structural power of TNMCs to consolidate control over the global network of media.
https://doi.org/10.1177/17427665231205472 (Open access)
Harrison, J. and Gu, H. (2023) ‘Arguing with megaregions: Learning from China’s chéngshì qún’, Transactions in Planning and Urban Research, 2 (1), 53-70.
The rise of megaregions is championed by those arguing that the 21st century will be dominated by vast expanses of transmetropolitan urban landscapes. Many argue that we are living in a ‘world’ and an ‘age’ of megaregions, where megaregions are both competitive territories par excellence and an important scale for urban planning. Nowhere does the spotlight shine more brightly than on China’s megaregions (chéngshì qún). In this paper we examine the new planning vision for megaregions in China’s 14th Five Year Plan (2021–25). We trace continuities and discontinuities from the 11th, 12th and 13th FYPs to emphasise the importance of adopting a strong spatial and temporal approach to researching megaregions. This analysis is then used to outline an agenda for researching urban China and megaregionalism through the lens of chéngshì qún. This research agenda takes the form of eight statements which are presented as modern theses for megaregionalism. These are then countered by eight antitheses, alternative views which provide an agenda for future research into chéngshì qún, the changing dynamics of urban China and megaregionalism more generally. Tying everything together is a claim for more synthesis.
https://doi.org/10.1177/27541223231157239 (Open access)
Beaverstock, J., Leaver, A. and Tischer, D. (2023) ‘How financial products organize spatial networks: analyzing collateralized debt obligations and collateralized loan obligations as “networked products”’, Environment and Planning A, 55 (4), 969-996.
During the 2010s, collateralized loan obligations rapidly became a trillion-dollar industry, mirroring the growth profile and peak value of its cousin—collateralized debt obligations—in the 2000s. Yet, despite similarities in product form and growth trajectory, surprisingly little is known about how these markets evolved spatially and relationally. This paper fills that knowledge gap by asking two questions: how did each network adapt to achieve scale at speed across different jurisdictions; and to what extent does the spatial and relational organization of today’s collateralized loan obligation structuration network, mirror that of collateralized debt obligations pre-crisis? To answer those questions, we draw on the global financial networks approach, developing our own concept of the networked product to explore the agentic qualities of collateralized debt obligations and collateralized loan obligations—specifically how their technical and regulatory “needs” shape the roles and jurisdictions enrolled in a global financial network. We use social network analysis to map and analyze the evolving spatial and relational organization that nurtured this growth, drawing on data harvested from offering circulars. We find that collateralized debt obligations spread from the US to Europe through a process of transduplication—that similar role-based network relations were reproduced from one regulatory regime to another. We also find a strong correlation between pre-crisis collateralized debt obligation- and post-crisis collateralized loan obligation-global financial networks in both US$- and €-denominations, with often the same network participants involved in each. We conclude by reflecting on the prosaic way financial markets for ostensibly complex products reproduce and the capacity for network stabilities to produce market instabilities.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X211029654 (Open access)