Measurement and interpretation of connectivity of Chinese cities in world city network, 2010

Abstract

This is an empirical paper that measures and interprets the position of Chinese cities in the world city network in 2010. Building on a specification of the world city network as an ‘interlocking network’ in which business service firms play the crucial role in network formation, information is gathered about the presence and importance of global service firms in cities. This information is converted into data to provide the ‘service value’ of a city for a firm’s provision of its corporate services in a 526 (cities) x 175 (firms) matrix. These data are then used as the input to the interlocking network model in order to measure cities’ connectivity and its predominant geographical orientation. Here we focus on the position of some key Chinese cities in this regard, and discuss and interpret results in the context of the urban dimensions of the ‘opening up’ of the Chinese economy.