A Shrinking World?

Book excerpt: This is the second of a five-book series which offers a forward-looking, broad-based course in human geography. The building blocks of a 'geographical imagination' are presented through some of the principal forces that are shaping the world as it approaches the twenty-first century. Each book develops different aspects of the geographical imagination, using a mixture of text and readings, through which the authors teach what it is to think geographically. The issues that are exploredare at the forefront of global and local relations. In recent years there has been much talk of a world that is progressively shrinking as developments in communications and travel increase the pace of life and disrupt our sense of distance. For many, this is the language of globalization: of a world smaller in size, characterized by closer ties and connections, where places once thought of as far apart are no longer so. This volume offers a critical introduction to these ideas, one whichrequires us to rethink our notions of distance and movement, as well as the very nature of social space itself. Starting with the revolutions in transport and communications, the book sets the context within which much of the discussion around the shrinking of the globe takes place. The contributors then go on to examine the implications of a shrinking globe for the worlds of money and finance, and for multinational and transnational firms, and the role played by global cities. Transnational pollution and global tourism are also explored for the manner in which they too often shrink the the world in sometimes unexpected and unpredictable ways. Throughout, attention is drawn to the unevenness and inequality built into global relationships and processes.