Trend setting cities: situation & perspectives

Thèmes abordés

Global Economy, Trend Setting, Cities, Trend setters, situation, perspectives, Shanghai, Seoul, Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro, Rouen Business School, MGM, Essay, Current Issues in the Global Economy

Résumé du document

Since the end of World War II, the global economic development and the creation of trends were mainly held by the US, notably in New York and Los Angeles. Europe then followed and became one of the places to be in terms of fashion, architecture and art. Since the last decade we can observe that the evolution in the economic development map has been followed at the same time by a shift in trendsetting cities (Shanghai, Seoul, Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro).

Extraits

[...] It is relevant to try to define a trend in order to understand better the topic. A trend is a social process in which style or taste changes. This can be about changes in how one's dress, one's food or even what one's watch on television. They are numerous different kinds of variations in style and taste. On one hand, changes can be ephemeral, called fads. As an example, we can talk about fashion that changes every year or season. [...]

[...] During the next decade, we will definitely see large modification on the map of economic dynamism. The first reason will be that regarding the 2008 crisis and the difficulty to recover from it for US and the UK, it is reasonable to expect a long and difficult recession for those countries. As a consequence, it will be less likely for the US and British cities to continue being trendsetting cities as they have been at their apogee. It is the same for Paris and Milan that have been able to stay fashion places to be, and trendy cities. [...]

[...] Old European trendy capitals will have to adapt to face the emerging ones by specializing even more in their own specialty. Paris should focus on the gastronomy and the luxury products, London on its incomparable diversity and lifestyle, and Milan in fashion creation and style. Nevertheless, the big European and U.S cities have still a large advantage on the others and if they stick to their own challenges they might reduce significantly their threats. It is very interesting to see the pace at which fashion weeks shows, car showrooms, and architecture projects are developing nowadays, and it can be stated without any doubt that this pace is not meant to stop at any time for the moment. [...]

[...] Actresses came from the United States to discover and buy the refinement of "Made in Italia." Milan, and Italy as a whole is also known for its strong cultural history, and the country is and will stay trendsetter in architecture and art. To finish with, London is the trendsetting city with the most cosmopolitan vibe. City's population is composing of one third of foreigners and more than 2.3 million of Londoners are sharing their cultural style, fashion and cuisine together. If London was a French city it would be the fifth in terms of population. [...]

[...] It has been a trendsetting city and spread the American Culture throughout the world thanks to its film industry. The city has also been trendsetter in music, mainly Californian rock and Electro-music. After thirty years after the madness of cons-culture, San Francisco is known as the city of all cultures. The city has been the source of development of marginal culture, such as the acceptation of the gay culture. The city is now nostalgic, politically correct and of all colors. [...]