Abstract

This chapter provides a conceptual, methodological and empirical overview of urban-geographical research on the global connectivities of cities. We clarify how conceptual writings on ‘world’ and ‘global’ cities have helped to shape this research agenda, which is now of key importance in urban geography. This is followed by a discussion of how the methodological question of measuring global urban connectivity has been tackled in an increasingly diverse literature. Zooming in on the approach developed in the context of the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) research network, we provide an empirical discussion of the geographies of global urban connectivity produced by globalized producer services firms, maritime services firms, and non-governmental organizations.