Urban Hinterworlds

Under conditions of contemporary globalisation, the external ‘urban influence’ of world cities is world-wide. Overlapping provision of service means no boundaries of influence thus problematising traditional concepts such as hinterland. The term hinterworld is coined to describe the variations in the intensity of provision of advanced producer services by world cities across the world. The argument is that behind every successful world city there is an intensive hinterworld. Using data for 46 global service firms, the urban hinterworlds of the ten leading world cities are mapped and compared. London and New York have the most intensive hinterworlds and it is found that overall London's hinterworld is slightly more intensive than New York's but the latter is more concentrated in other leading world cities. The conclusion is that globalisation does not herald the end of geography, rather it marks the development of exciting new geographies.