Urban Studies in the Last Decade: Between the Global Dimension and the Local Dimension

Abstract

The profound socio-economic transformations that have occurred in advanced countries and the new dialectic between universal and local processes are reflected in a significant shift in the focus of urban studies over the past decade. On one hand, the increasing internationalization of the economy and the specificity of the postindustrial model have strengthened the role of cities as key poles of the global economic system; in this context, a new approach has emerged that places special emphasis on the global dimension of cities and the framework of global competition that shapes their trajectories. On the other hand, the collapse of spatial barriers has led to a revaluation of place and the local community as spaces of social coexistence and cultural identification. This explains the importance that the local dimension of urban life has gained, especially advocated by those authors who identify with the microspatial perspective of postmodernism.