With their deep-rooted cultures and external orientation, they exhibited many of the hallmarks of what are now considered to be global cities. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Italian women spinning silk and heating silkworms on the fire – engraving by Stradanus (1523-1605). In this wave of globalisation, cities also re-established themselves as information and media capitals in their respective regions. Over time, these alternative pathways result in very different kinds of global cities. This extract was reprinted with permission from Global Cities: A Short History by Greg Clark (Brookings Institution Press, 2016).

Source: The Guardian December 01, 2016 07:18 UTC