Temporal Dimensions and Global Urban Systems: Theoretical Expose and Empirical Evidence

Abstract

Over the last two centuries, a major change has been taking place in the distribution of population in the form of increasing concentrations of people in highly urbanized areas.  This trend has been very well captured by the publications of the United Nations Population Division and those of other authors.  The treatment of these changes, however, has not only been simplistic but it has also missed out on the link between changes in epicenters of global socio-economic and political systems and locational shifts of global urban systems.  This article provides a theoretical expose and empirical evidence of the link between temporal dimensions and the evolution of global urban systems.  It argues that the spatio-temporal changes in the epicenters of the world’s socio-economic and political systems explain the locational shifts of the world’s urban systems.  Urban systems are not just physical entities:  They are a mosaic of accumulations of time over space.