Southern California as a Global Gateway Region: Polycentricity and Network Segmentation as Competitive Advantages

Abstract

This contribution will provide an overview of the most significant internal aspects that have promoted Southern California 's rise as a global metropolis. A central argument of this paper is that Southern California's rising importance has been largely supported by its polycentric metropolitan structure, and by the multifaceted segmentation and flexibility that it has fostered in most every aspect of its economic and social life. Although the perspective of this contribution will be general in scope, much of the discussion will be concerned with labor and employment. The following will provide a brief overview of Southern California' s history, its rapid urban growth, and its polycentric character. That will be followed up by a brief discussion of its global relevance and the two main characteristics, segmentation and flexibility, which have helped it become a world-class metropolis. A final section will then consider the segmentation of networks, with particular attention being given to the proliferation of barrier network structures within the region, and their impact on labor flows and employment. In general, the approach taken by this contribution will be macro-level, providing broad overviews rather than focusing on microanalytic details.