Socially, it must have a high diversity of cultures, religions, ideologies and languages. Economically, they must serve a variety of international economic services and host the headquarters for several multinational corporations. Not strictly dictated by population or size, it is sometimes hard to quantify what makes a global city, but there are several unifying characteristics. These cities are key locations within the world economy, acting as crucial centres for the global trading of goods and services. Now crucial to the modern idea of globalization, ‘global city’ as a term was popularised by Saskia Sassen in 1991 with the cities of London, Tokyo and New York serving as the prime examples. Tracing back to 1886, its first recorded use described the English port of Liverpool’s involvement in global trade. The following list provides four key definitions that have emerged in the last century. There are many types of urban landscapes, and for architects and planners it is vital to efficiently categorize settlement types in order to successfully develop designs and city plans.

Historically, the size or population of a settlement was a general indicator of its importance-the bigger city, the more power it yields-however, with the large rural-to-urban migration of the last century, it has become harder to define what makes a city important. These urban settlements vary in culture, size and specialty, with certain areas becoming more significant throughout the development of a region. You can’t define modern civilization without mentioning its cities.

Global City-Regions.