Global-polis and Time Space of Hope - Transformation of Global City and Spaces of Hope

Abstract

Globalization and the revolution in information have brought aboutpostmodern notions of space such as cyber space and overlappingspace. In her discussion of the dual systems of global cities, SaskiaSassen argues that overlapping space becomes predominant in globalcities, in which the global space is overlapping to the State and thelocal. Examining the specific ways of overlapping space, Sassenattempts to extend the space for political practices to the global space. However, for the effective construction of that kind of space, Sassen'snotion of global city seems to need to be revised. In Sassen'sframework, heterogeneous and different dimensions of communities inglobal cities are understudied and instead often easily reduced to economic dimension. Here David Harvey's recent discussion of spaces of hope seems to behelpful to rethink of what is understudied in Sassen's work. Proposingopen spatiotemporal utopianism, Harvey attempts to envision alternativeutopian spaces as a combination of dynamic socialisticcompetition-space with security-space which enables every citizen toreceive partially equal benefits from community. But Havery'sspatiotemporal utopianism moves between Keyensianism and utterutopianism that is imagined but not realizable. In a critical dialogue with Sassen's discussions of global cities andHarvey's spaces of hope, I will explore the ways in which we canenvision and open up the positive possibility of communities in globalcities. In doing so, I'd like to propose 'global-polis' ('polis' as acommunity of public encounter and solidarity like in the traditionalGreek sense) as an alternative term for global city. By 'global-polis' asa humanistic community of contradictory (neoliberal vs. alter-)globalizing age, I mean to open up the possibilities of realizable openutopian community. As Harvey formulated, combining dynamicsocialistic competition-space with security-space for such open utopianspaces, I will discuss how such spaces can be concreted with myprinciple of 'socialistic competition to enhance the value of each otherin security'.