Recent years have witnessed a surge in public awareness concerning the impact of world economic forces on cities. In this challenging book, the author argues that though the consciousness is new the phenomena themselves are not. For the past two centuries at least, world economic, political and cultural forces have been major factors shaping cities, patterns of urbanization and the physical and spatial forms of the built environment.

Anthony King believes that the historical context of contemporary global restructuring must be recognized if present-day urban and regional change is...