Globalization: Perspectives

Globalization: Perspectives What Is Next for Global Cities: Post-financial Crisis Scenarios Saskia Sassen Wednesday, April 22 7:00 p.m. The Urban Center 457 Madison Avenue Sociologist Saskia Sassen will examine the financial crisis and its impact on global cities in order to understand what types of possibilities this crisis might open for cities. She states: “Our major cities are complex systems, which should be able to absorb the devastating effects of the financial crisis. The greater the diversity of economic sectors in a city, the more difficult it will be for the virus that is this financial crisis to spread quickly; in contrast, in a monoculture a virus can spread fast and bring the plantation down. As a result, a financial crisis that is sufficiently powerful to put a complex city at risk can become an opportunity for activating innovative responses that may have been unacceptable or unattractive when finance was the dominant sector. We are seeing a growing number of major cities responding in innovative ways. Secondly, the differences in the urban economies of different countries also point to variable degrees of flexibility in accommodating the crisis. Not all cities have been hit in the same way. For some cities, the relative withdrawal of this enormously powerful sector actually is energizing alternative types of economic projects. Finally, there are two ironies in this story of financial crisis and global cities. One is that through their ‘brilliant’ inventions, financial experts have brought themselves down along with the rest of the economy. The other is that insofar as most governments have accepted a financial solution to the financial crisis, it will require financiers to work at it. And there is no place for this like global cities.” Saskia Sassen is the Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology and Member, The Committee on Global Thought, Columbia University. Recent books include Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages (Princeton University Press, 2008) and A Sociology of Globalization (Norton, 2007). She has completed for UNESCO a five-year project on sustainable human settlement based on a network of researchers and activists in over 30 countries; it is published as one of the volumes of the Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS) (Oxford, UK: EOLSS Publishers). Her books are translated into nineteen languages. She has written for The Guardian, The New York Times, OpenDemocracy.net, Le Monde Diplomatique, the International Herald Tribune, Newsweek International, the Financial Times, HuffingtonPost.com, among others. Tickets are required for admission to League programs. Tickets are free for League members; $10 for non-members. Members may reserve a ticket by e-mailing: [email protected]. Member tickets will be held at the check-in desk; unclaimed tickets will be released fifteen minutes after the start of the program. Non-members may purchase tickets online here, beginning Wednesday, April 15 until six hours before the program start. Purchased tickets are available for pick-up at the check-in desk and are non-refundable. For more information on our ticketing policy, click here; for general information, email [email protected] or call 212.753.1722 x13. AIA and New York State continuing education credits are available.