Your essay should begin with an introductory paragraph that sets forth your thesis for the essay.  1. The economic consequences of globalization for Capital and Labor: although globalization is associated with a number of phenomena (information technology, cultural diffusion), the movement of capital and the reconfiguration of economic relationships by global capital are its most important components.  When we say that the economy is globalized, it means that capital from one part of the world can be moved and invested (or withdrawn) from enterprises on the other side of the world with remarkable ease and velocity.  It also means that corporations increasingly spread their operations over many locations in the world in order to take advantage of differentials in costs.  This has important consequences for labor at all points on the compensation spectrum.  Highly skilled professionals gather and interpret information necessary to make investment decisions, manage supply chains, and design new products.  Low skilled workers compete with each other around the globe to have access to economic opportunities that are, in many cases, extremely mobile.  Labor markets in particular cities reflect these differentials in skills, competition, and opportunities.  As we examine the particular problems of specific cities, we should always keep in mind the role capital and labor are playing in the transformation of urban space.
2. Inequality: globalization does not affect all people or places equally.  Indeed, in spite of the growing wealth associated with global economic expansion, inequality will be one of the most obvious and recurring issues we confront, though it may also appear in unexpected and surprising forms.  Immigration, for example, plays a crucial role in global cities; however, not all immigrants are the same, nor are they treated the same by private employers or public officials.  Globalization also highlights differences among workers and the work they do, with some engaged in glamorous, lucrative activities while others languish in temporary, poorly paid, and often unhealthy jobs.  Differences in wealth and access to resources will appear in profound inequalities evident in housing, mobility, and health.  Although sometimes hidden, these differences can emerge in public conflicts, in policy debates, and in local politics.
3. Global influence and local control: global actors, particularly those associated with investment capital and corporate resources, often have definite ideas about what they want from a city: profit, prestige, docile labor, cooperative local officials.  National and state governments, with their own connections to globalization, may also have a strong hand in local decision-making.  These organizations may bring resources to cities, but those resources are usually associated with an agenda that may not be widely shared by urban residents.  Globalization may also mean that cities are affected by prices, the movement goods, climate changes, and infectious diseases over which they have limited control.  How can cities deal with powerful outside forces?  What institutional capacity do local governments have to shape the effects of globalization?  Especially for students of public administration, this is a crucial question.  Local governments may not have the expertise or managerial ability to respond to globalization, so we need to ask ourselves what it would take for cities to better control their fate in the new global order.  What are public officials able to do, what skills and resources do they have, and are they sufficient to the task of managing a global city?
4. Vision: what sort of city shall we have and who will make that decision?  In a globalized world, cities are rapidly becoming the key competitive units, even more important (in some cases) than the nation-states of which they are a part.  Globalization presents opportunities to cities that are able to organize themselves to compete for resources like capital investment, highly productive workers, and tourist dollars.  But determining how a city will present itself to the world means crafting a vision, determining a strategy, and implementing its components.  Who makes those decisions?  Who participates in the process?  Who has a voice?  If inequality has created conflicts within an urban population, how are those conflicts manifest in debates over a city’s future?  How are those conflicts resolved and by what processYour thesis should identify an important point about the management of global cities that you think is supported by your subsequent discussion of one of the four meta-themes addressed in the course.  This paragraph should be about half a page long and is worth 10 points.
o    Your essay should end with a conclusion restating your hypothesis and explaining what you think contemporary urban managers should understand about global cities based on your preceding discussion.  This paragraph should be about half a page long and is worth 10 points.
o    The body of your essay should be comprised of four paragraphs, each about half a page in length.  Three of the paragraphs should be based on Readings that address the meta-theme you chose for the essay; be sure to include a brief but meaningful quotation from the Readings in each paragraph.  The fourth paragraph should be based o