Theory of World Cities and the Advance of Shanghai Towards a World City

The world city hypothesis itself is a research framework rather than an urban theory or generalization.It is just a starting point of the research.The first limitation of the hypothesis is over-concentration on some relatively large metropolitan centers.The second one is lacking of study on the urban theory itself.In the metropolitanization advance,Shanghai has nationwide first-class economy and infrastructure.And in some aspects Shanghai can be competitive with some top cities around the world.But the most crucial gap between Shanghai and western metropolis lies in urban cultural competence rather than GDP,urban space or population size.Therefore,the key issue of Shanghai is to change the disadvantageous position of culture both in the future global urban competition and the urban sustainable development itself.