Our Cities Mobilise the World.

I am a passionate communicator ∙ fervent city dweller ∙ enthusiastic citizen of the world.

For over 20 years now I have been both professionally and privately committed as an active globaliser and long-standing networker.

Four years travelling on a German diplomatic passport ∙ 50 cities ∙ 15 nations ∙ 6 continents ∙ already as a child I attended school in many different countries. My experience shows  …

Our Cities play a Key Role

in our Internationalisation.

Cities have always had a great impact on our networked global events. For over 1,000 years cities have driven our international trade forward.

For a long time now, we have observed the key links that exist between our urbanisation, our international relations and our globalisation. From the old oriental trade routes to our densely networked world of today.

Total Globalisation:

From the Unipolar 1990s to Our Geopolitical Marketplace of Today.

From the 1980s to the 1990s our world was dominated by just one country. The “United States of America”. Only after this did other key powers follow, like “Europe”, “China”, “India” and “Japan”.

But with today’s billions of global links and the worldwide democratisation of data, information and news we have created our joint “geopolitical marketplace” where just one law prevails …

Every Market is Important.

My Forecast:

In Future our Superpowers will be Spearheaded by Cities.

Many cities have developed over the past few years into urban archipelagos. At times, the great cityscapes boast more international importance and greater economic value than many states

For instance, currently we would consider the “Pearl River Delta” in China among the 20 most important industrial nations in the world [G20] if it were an autonomous country.

A New Global Power:

Urban Archipelagos.

With their huge cultural diversity and constant rise in population numbers these urban archipelagos will heavily accelerate our globalisation.

Cities can even be very successful within failed states. A country, on the other hand, has no chance of survival without a city capable of surviving

My Forecast:

Through our Common Global Links we will Prevent Wars. Because…

 

The Top Priority of all Nations:

Infrastructure.

Governments spend money on defence. But when we compare figures we immediately realise that by far the top priorities of almost all countries are huge investments in our shared global infrastructures.

Almost all nations of today spend large sums of money on our global telecommunications networks, transport networks, traffic networks and supply chains.

For this reason, our countries will no longer risk destroying their costly infrastructure investments by engaging in banal wars. In future, we can certainly also expect politicians and entrepreneurs to stage “trials of strength”. The main aim of this will be to retain control on global supply chains.

We are sure to also see one or the other aggressive manoeuvre here. However, I am convinced these will constitute fairly acceptable alternatives compared to our previous wars.

Our Joint

Global Perspectives.

Our digital networking today opens up joint chances and opportunities for us globally.

In our economies, politics, culture, environment and communication between all people, cities, companies and institutions.

As a euphoric fan of “The Cluetrain Manifesto” I enjoy our close global connections.

People have moved a great deal closer together since the turn of the millennium.

Urban Progress:

Urban Mobility.

The near future awaits us with attractive urban progress. For instance, there are two interesting developments in the field of “urban mobility”:

In a many cities we are testing the “Driverless Car”.

In the Finnish capital of Helsinki we have discovered that young people in this city are no longer buying private cars. The reason for this is the city’s highly developed public transport network.

Urban Internationalisation:

Successful Diplomacy of Cities.

I am grateful for the confidence placed in me, and the honour this brings, to provide effective support amongst others to the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Finance and Economics with my personal and reliable network of contacts with key international figures and media houses.

It is, in particular, the close diplomatic links between our cities and regions that will pave the way to our sustainable joint internationalisation of the future.

For instance, cooperations between the regions of “Baden-Württemberg” and “Catalonia” in the field of job mobility.

First Baden-Württemberg Day in Barcelona

Already in April 2015 these two European partner regions laid the foundations with their joint kick-off event in Barcelona.

Nils Schmid, former regional Deputy Minister President and Minister for Finance and Economics, was enthusiastic: “The Baden-Württemberg Day in Barcelona is the successful start of our fruitful cooperation in the fields of skilled workers, training and academia.”

O U R
∙  A R R A N G E M E N T S  ∙
∙  R E A L I S A T I O N S  ∙
∙  I M P R E S S I O N S  ∙

Thank you for your interest. Thank you for reading. Comments are positively encouraged. Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me at any time. I look forward to your messages.

Many Regards, Frank Mendel.

---

---

The image rights in my blog feature on “THE WINNER IS … OUR URBAN GLOBALISATION” are subject to the following copyrights ||| Images 01, 06, 07, 08, 11, 12, 14: (c) copyright by Frank Mendel ||| Images 02, 03, 04, 05, 09, 10, 13, 15: (c) copyright by fotolia ||| Image 16: (c) copyright by Frank Mendel + Vincenzo Rigogliuso.