Paper short abstract:

The paper engages with Global City research with special reference to the critique of J. Robinson and others and their emphasis on ordinary cities. Based on the examples theoretical challenges and solutions reflecting societal, political and spatial embeddedness are outlined.

Paper long abstract:

Conventional regionalisations and delimitations of cities and urban societies are increasingly questioned, empirically as well as theoretically. This paper discusses the related debate unfolding in urban studies and shows that some of the fault lines of this debate can be attributed to different research agendas. Relating to the South African background, different understandings of the 'city' and the 'region' are identified, as well as in interpretations of ongoing trends towards global urban societies. Starting point of our paper is the assumption that the World and Global City debate on the one hand and the conceptions of Global Value Chains on the other offer a range of research questions which may lead to a reinterpretation of global cities in Africa. Using the situation in Gauteng as a reference we will unravel different directions of the debate. Based on this we propose a synthesis taking the concept of global city regions to a further level. We argue that through this new lens a two-pronged reflection is possible: in this way, an integration of regional evolutionary pathways of urban development with a growing dependence of global and international flows of products and money can be constructed.