London a World Leading City

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Explain why London is considered to be a global city? The city of London is one of the few economic centres in Europe to have lasted over 300 years, the fundamental feature in its survival has been the ability of the city to change, yet keep the same activity at its heart ‘the exchange of information.’(Unwin 1998) The bank of England was founded in 1694, institutions like the stock exchange came later; these institutions were set to gradually pivot around a city of money and finance. (Unwin 1998) From the demise the financial markets of Amsterdam during the Napoleonic Wars until the first World War, London was the centre of the financial world (Roberts 1994). The Sterling (Pound) was the most powerful currency as this was the currency of international traders (Roberts 1994). Bagehot described the city ‘It is by far the greatest combination of economical power that the world has ever seen.’ This comment was made in 1873 (Unwin 1998). The First World War was the decline of the city, as the financial markets entered a time of uncertainty (Roberts 1994). Countries such as the United States overtook the UK as they began to lag behind. Here the emergence of the US dollar began, the US dollar became the chief currency of international trade, this marked the shift in power and the British banks lost much of their international influence (Roberts 1994). Since the 1950’s this has changed as London began to boom once more, as in did in the 19th century (Roberts 1994). There is a need to determine what factors define a global city, in order to discuss whether London is a global city. The urban world is dominated by a small number of centres that are the command and control points for global capitalism, the world’s dominant economic system. Such centres are not distinguished by their size or status or as capital cities of large countries, but by their extent and
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