Technological innovation and other global forces have brought about a more informed population in a shrinking world. This interdisciplinary concept involves a complex set of related processes that have served to enrich the integration of socio-cultural, political and economic life in a post-modern world. In recent years there has been an explosion of academic interest in the notion of globalization. When the ranking of the 14 possible cities are executed according to the connectivity indices, four categories of cities emerge on an arbitrary basis. The results of the provisional analysis reveal an interesting picture. It will therefore be the specific objective of this exploratory paper to firstly compile a theoretical overview of the definitions and indicators of global cities as the concept may impact on Sub-Sahara Africa and secondly, to apply some of the measuring instruments to lay the foundation for possible categorising of Africa's cities in a world and regional context. Considering differences in urbanization tendencies and urbanism structures in industrialised First World countries compared to those in the developing Third World, the question is how applicable current global city definitions and associated methodologies are outside of the Western world? African cities in particular have received scant attention in global city research. Present studies of globalization and global cities have been biased towards Western core countries.
(Z) The Global Cities of Sub-Sahara Africa: Fact or Fiction? Please refer to the published version when quoting the paper. This Research Bulletin has been published in Urban Forum, 15 (1), (2004), 36-47.
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