| In the past few decades, we have witnessed the mushrooming of transnational companies; the rapid technological innovation as well as the increasing cross-boundary flows of capital. Globalization has resulted in the accentuation of world cities as centres of capital, information and decision-making. Contemporary world city discourses tend to focus on measuring the extent of world cityness without adequate analysis of the processes that lead to the world city status. It is wrong to assume a convergence in socio-economic and spatial structures among world cities. As world city development is embedded in the territory and place-based institutions, different pathways of the world city formation process deserve detailed investigation. The main aim of this research is to conduct a theoretically-informed and empirically-grounded analysis on the world city formation process in Hong Kong. It is hypothesized that the intensity and nature of the world city formation process varies with time and across space. As informed by the realist perspective, this research will investigate beyond the superficial phenomenon and analyze into the underlying mechanisms of the world city formation process in Hong Kong.; By conducting the macro and micro analyses, several characteristics of the world city formation process of Hong Kong are discernible. First, it is found that the transformation of Hong Kong into a world city is not only in "stages" but also in "cycles". It is a cyclical process with a series of developmental stages (Early Restructuring---Capacity Building---Rapid Internationalization---Crisis-prone Development) occurring in succession. Second, China is an important factor in the transformation of Hong Kong into a world city. The development of Hong Kong is supported by a large hinterland---China. Third, the entire transformation is an unstable process as Hong Kong has closely knitted within the city system in Asia. Any crisis that has occurred in a country will quickly spread to the rest of the member cities within the network. Fourth, different internal spatial foci are observed at different stages of the world city formation process. In recent years, the government has devoted great efforts to enhance the role of Hong Kong as Asia's world city. In this respect, this research will have some practical implications on the formulation of future development strategies. |
