This chapter focuses on ports and ships, or the maritime industry, as simultaneously facilitating the global mobility of commodities, and as a vastly changing mobility sector by itself, thus reflecting the extensive growth in the global flow of commodities. The transitions in both transport systems and transported commodities is shown to be tied to the system of global cities. Hence, the following dimensions of maritime geography are explored in the chapter: general features of the global maritime transport system; factors, processes and patterns for port development; transitions within ports; port cities and global cities; and networks and systems of shipping lines. Following the elaborations on ports and shipping, some attention is devoted to an additional infrastructure, which is used for global trade, namely marine international pipelines, constructed for the transmission of liquids and gas.

This chapter focuses on the global flows of commodities and services via international trade, channeled through exports and imports. The exchange of goods among nations probably constitutes the most ancient form of international mobility, turning in modern times into a rather global one. This chapter elaborates, first, on the drives for international trade as suggested by theories on international trade. It then moves to discussions of the global mobility of commodities, exploring first the phases in the development of contemporary global international trade. The chapter then moves to the highlighting of contemporary trends in global international trade, focusing on the major national and regional exporting and importing partners, with a special attention devoted to the growing power of China, in particular, and that of Asia, in general. These discussions of international trade in commodities are complemented by explorations of international trade in services, as well as by an elaboration of international waste trade.

This chapter is devoted to the global mobility of individuals, mainly through tourism. It begins with a review of the history of the airline industry, culminating with the emergence of low-cost airlines, on the one hand, and airline hubs and huge airports, on the other. These two trends are interpreted as being simultaneously facilitators and consequences of the vast growth in the global movement of people. The chapter further outlines the general features of the global air transport system, and it discusses the factors, processes and patterns for airport development, the internal structure of airports, international airports and their cities, and airline networks and systems. The chapter then moves to a comparative discussion of the global positionalities of airports and container ports, thus connecting and comparing maritime ports and airports. The final dimension, elaborated in this chapter, is the environmental effects of airports.

Global tourism involves terminals (airports) and vehicles (airplanes), both of which were discussed in Chapter 4, and the international movements of people, discussed in this chapter. Our exploration of international travel in this chapter begins with discussions of its roots and drives, moving then to elaborations, first of international pleasure tourism, followed by international business tourism and relocation. The chapter further highlights the geography of country entry control, as maintained through tourist visas and their waivers. Business tourism is obviously partially related to the international movements of commodities and services, as well as to the movements of capital. All of these discussions include data at the country level. Finally, this chapter focuses on city destinations of tourists, a discussion that closes the circle with the focus on airports located in cities, which was presented in Chapter 4.

The global mobilities of finance and capital are virtual by their nature, as compared to the physical mobilities of commodities and people. In this chapter, the organs for global financial activity are sketched, rather than the global financial transmissions themselves. The chapter opens with the highlighting of the very nature of capital and the characteristics of its global transmissions. The chapter then moves to elaborations on the major global financial traders, which include banks, stock markets and investment companies. These discussions are then followed by a presentation of the transmission channels used by these traders, mainly the international SWIFT system. Finally, the chapter portrays the leading global onshore and offshore financial centers.

This chapter outlines the global mobilities of the several classes of capital, by their volumes, as well as by their global geographical directions of mobility. Thus, the chapter begins with an exposition of payment cards and e-wallet services, both of which have become the most widely used payment methods by individuals, and frequently also by businesses, all in exchange for the international purchase of goods and services. The chapter then moves to an elaboration of venture capital (VC) and its global mobility. VC is shown to be a leading source for capital as resource, notably in the expanding high-tech and biotech industries. The elaboration of VC is followed by an exploration of foreign direct investment, yet another, sometimes governmental, global source for capital as resource. Finally, the chapter looks at capital flows as deposits, by focusing first on portfolio stock market investments, and followed by some highlighting of investments in foreign exchange.

This chapter is devoted to the media and channels that have been developed and adopted for information transmission. The four major information media of telephony, radio, television and the Internet lead in the transmission of information in general, and in the international mobility of information in particular. Moreover, the daily and most significant dimension of global mobility for individuals worldwide is their connectivity to media of global communications. This global mobility of individuals is mostly carried out through mobile phones in general, and through smartphones connected to the Internet in particular, along with television as the leading mass medium. The chapter elaborates on the emergence and structure of all of these information media, followed by elaborations on their global spread and functioning, as well as on their transmission infrastructures via satellites and international cables. The order of discussions follows the original historical introduction of the four media.

The introduction and massive adoption of communications devices and technologies, notably the Internet and the smartphone, has turned the global transmission of information into a most dominant element of global mobilities. Thus, the focus in this chapter is on numerous dimensions of the global transmission of information: limits, volumes, directions, transmitters, purposes, channels, structures and impacts. The chapter begins with an introductory discussion of the general notion of information and its components. This classification of information is followed by a conceptual elaboration of global information transmissions and their limits, proceeded by an exposition of the volumes of global information and its transmissions. The chapter then moves to the presentation of the global geographical structure of cross-border information flows, followed by elaborations on their economic impacts. The presentation of global information flows is completed by a focus on global information flows as generated by individuals.