Acknowledgements vii // Preface: After the Crash ix // Introduction: ‘the future of our world’? 1 // Part I Inventing a world city 27 // 1 Capital delight 29 // 2 ‘A successful city, but. . 54 // 3 Imagining the city 73 // Part II The world city in the country 95 // 4 The golden goose? 97 // 5 An alternative regional geography 114 // 6 Who owes whom? 130 // 7 Reworking the geographies of allegiance 149 // C O N T ENTS // v i // Part III The world city in the world 163 // 8 Grounding the global 165 // 9 Identity, place, responsibility 177 // 10 A politics of place beyond place 188 // Concluding reflections 211 // Notes 218 // References 232 // Index 251