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World City Network Research at a Theoretical Impasse: On the Need to Re-Establish Qualitative Approaches to Understanding Agency in World City Networks

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  • Allan Watson
  • Jonathan V. Beaverstock

Abstract

From the late 1990s, the establishment of a new relational ‘turn’ in the study of world city connectedness in globalisation has run parallel to the wider relational turn occurring in economic geography. Early work, built firmly upon a qualitative approach to the collection and analyses of new intercity datasets, considered cities as being constituted by their relations with other cities. Subsequent research, however, would take a strong quantitative turn, best demonstrated through the articulation of the inter-locking world city network (ILWCN) ‘model’ for measuring relations between cities. In this paper, we develop a critique of research based around the ILWCN model, arguing that this ‘top down’ quantitative approach has now reached a theoretical impasse. To address this impasse, we argue for a move away from structural approaches in which the firm is the main unit of analysis, towards qualitative approaches in which individual agency and practice are afforded greater importance.

Suggested Citation

  • Allan Watson & Jonathan V. Beaverstock, 2014. "World City Network Research at a Theoretical Impasse: On the Need to Re-Establish Qualitative Approaches to Understanding Agency in World City Networks," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 105(4), pages 412-426, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:tvecsg:v:105:y:2014:i:4:p:412-426
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