ECONOMY, ENVIRONMENT, CULTURE: GLOBAL DREAMS BY TWO ASIAN CITIES

Global cities have been characterized as networked nodes, with multiple and intensive global flows of people, goods, services, ideas, and images. These often share more in common, and identify more with other such cities than with urban hinterlands in their own countries. Given the myriad external linkages and orientation, this paper will argue that some Asian cities progress is not only aimed at economic and social emancipation, which are only tools to attain global city status. It will particularly examine the cultural production of new urban spaces due to economic growth, and compare between two Asian cities of Hong Kong and Singapore.