The De-globalized City
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Sascha Haselmayer
Abstract
Public procurement in cities is one of the most exciting and under-studied governmental processes, offering an interesting angle into the real state of globalization in cities, the political and bureaucratic battle for the identity of government in connected markets and provides an indication of the intention of city governments to work in a globalized or de-globalizing world.
557,000 city and municipal governments procure an estimated 10% of world GDP in goods and services annually to serve their communities. In a perfectly globalized world, we would expect a single market to develop around these needs with competitors differentiating on cost, effectiveness and strategic value.
Yet, after decades of globalizing trends and announcements by Mayors to collaborate on global challenges, we have few indications that this has happened. Instead of rational, standardized transactions to deploy what works best, each procurement carried out by city and municipal governments is a complex battleground of vested local interests, strategic goals and public messaging.
In place of policymaking and adopting proven practices, cities appear simply to muddle through, one transaction at a time. Despite more open governments and transparency, there is a universal lack of data as to how these battles are fought.
© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Introduction
- Anti-gentrification Campaigns and the Fight for Local Control in California Cities
- Small and Smart: Why and How Smart City Solutions Can and Should be Adapted to the Unique Needs of Smaller Cities
- Global Questions About Rent and the Longue Durée of Urban Power, 1848 to the Present
- The De-globalized City
- Global Cities and the Ends of Globalism
- Religious Diversity, Social Cohesion, and the Role of Interfaith Cooperation in Resilient Global Cities
- Review Essays
- New York at its Core: A Review of an Exhibition at the City Museum of New York
- Owen Hatherley: Landscapes of Communism, Yuri Slezkine: The House of Government and John Davies, Alexander J. Kent: The Red Atlas
- Book Reviews
- Andrew Brooks: The End of Development. A Global History of Poverty and Prosperity
- Tim Dunne and Christian Reus-Smit: The Globalization of International Society
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Introduction
- Anti-gentrification Campaigns and the Fight for Local Control in California Cities
- Small and Smart: Why and How Smart City Solutions Can and Should be Adapted to the Unique Needs of Smaller Cities
- Global Questions About Rent and the Longue Durée of Urban Power, 1848 to the Present
- The De-globalized City
- Global Cities and the Ends of Globalism
- Religious Diversity, Social Cohesion, and the Role of Interfaith Cooperation in Resilient Global Cities
- Review Essays
- New York at its Core: A Review of an Exhibition at the City Museum of New York
- Owen Hatherley: Landscapes of Communism, Yuri Slezkine: The House of Government and John Davies, Alexander J. Kent: The Red Atlas
- Book Reviews
- Andrew Brooks: The End of Development. A Global History of Poverty and Prosperity
- Tim Dunne and Christian Reus-Smit: The Globalization of International Society
