O Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) é uma rede de pesquisa criada no Departamento de Geografia da Loughborough University, na Inglaterra. Ela é divulgada por meio de um site e de redes sociais. Conta com grande número de usuários, seguidores, contribuidores e pesquisadores.
O diretor do GaWC é Peter Taylor (Northumbria) e os fundadores honorários são Manuel Castells (University of Southern California), John Friedmann (University of British Columbia), Sir Peter Hall (University College London), Saskia Sassen (Columbia University) e Sir Nigel Thrift (University of Warwick).
O site do GaWC apresenta links para novidades, projetos, publicações, dados, e notícias da mídia. Os objetivos dessa Rede de Pesquisa estão apresentados deste modo:
“Created in the Geography Department at Loughborough University, this network focuses upon research into the external relations of world cities. Although the world/global city literature is premised upon the existence of world-wide transactions, most of the research effort has gone into studying the internal structures of individual cities and comparative analyses of the same. Relations between cities have been neglected by world cities researchers; the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) Research Network has been formed to aid in rectifying this situation.
Today the network operates as the leading thinktank on cities in globalization and has diversified into related subjects where concern for inter-city relations intersects with research on issues concerning, for instance, international business, sustainability, urban policy, and logistics.” (Globalization and World Cities Research Network, 2015)
Dentre os conceitos ligados ao GaWC está o de cidade-global (global city), atribuído à socióloga Saskia Sassen, em sua obra Global City, (2001), publicada originalmente em 1991. E no livro World city network : a global urban analysis, de Peter Taylor (2004) encontram-se estudos sobre rede de cidade global.
Bibliografia
GLOBALIZATION AND WORLD CITIES RESEARCH NETWORK (GaWC). Disponível em: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/index.html. Acesso em 07 de abril de 2015.
SASSEN, Saskia. The Global City. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001.
TAYLOR, Peter James. World city network : a global urban analysis. London : Routledge, 2004.