Despite traditionally being a strong research topic in urban studies, inter-city relations had become grossly neglected until recently, when it was placed back on the research agenda with the advent of studies of world/global cities. More recently the 'external relations' of cities have taken their place alongside 'internal relations' within cities to constitute the full nature of cities.

This collection of essays on how and why cities are connecting to each other in a globalizing world provides evidence for a new city-centered geography that is emerging in the twenty-first...