In this paper we aim to contribute to the literature on the empirical parallels between urban hierarchies and the transport networks supporting and/or reflecting these hierarchies. We adopt a stochastic actor-based modeling framework to analyze the co-evolution of the world city hierarchy and global air passenger networks between 2000 and 2010/2011. The data are drawn from an inventory of the location strategies of globalized service firms across world cities and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Major findings include (1) exogenous effects, such as the impact of economic development and regionality; (2) endogenous micro-level effects producing macro-level patterns, such as preferential attachment processes; and (3) the two-way impact of both networks. (i.e., cities that are well connected in the aviation network tend to attract more major offices of globalized service firms, while the co-presence of major offices of globalized service firms in cities in turn stimulates the development of aviation connections between them).

Some interesting changes have been taking place in the urbanisation processes of Latin American countries in the past few decades, some of which are definitely related to global processes. The empirical evidence of this relation is hard to pin down due to the lack of data sources, but in this paper it is suggested that the growth in volume and diversity of mobility relations between cities can be indicators of an overlapping of urban phenomena and global processes. A diachronic analysis (1970—2008) of Latin American air transport connectivity is used to evaluate the growth and the degree of cohesion of the internal relational systems and changes and continuities in the external relational systems. Even though air transport is an indicator to be complemented with other indicators when analysing global relations, the results indicate a continuation of existing Latin American structures (centralism and polarisation) and the emergence of new forms of dependence (tourism and migration), which should not be overlooked in the study of global relational systems.

El trabajo constituye una reflexión teórica sobre la metodología empleada y el significado otorgado a los listados o clasificaciones de ciudades mundiales. Existe una dilatada literatura académica, ligada al papel que tienen algunas ciudades en procesos territoriales globales, ligada al concepto de ciudad mundial. A esta producción se añaden contribuciones del mundo de la publicidad, la consultoría y los medios de comunicación. Recientemente se han incluido en todos ellos indicadores que reflejan el importante papel económico que adquieren los servicios culturales. Sin embargo, en un contexto de implantación de políticas neoliberales, los ránquines están siendo utilizados, con una narrativa que enfatiza el puesto que ocupa la ciudad, como forma de promoción urbana; al tiempo que la búsqueda y adquisición de un determinado puesto o rango favorece tales prácticas. Este hecho, que consideramos una utilización ideológica de los ránquines, justifica una necesaria reflexión que ahonde en su significado.

Using a city‐centred approach to development issues, this article critiques the recent concept of ‘Global South’. With its provenance from the ‘South’ half of the 1970s ‘North‐South divide’, the concept recognizes the transformations of the world economy since the 1970s, latterly known as globalization, by adding the adjective ‘global’ but leaves the geography undisturbed: the map of ‘South’ in ‘Global South’ is the same as in the North‐South divide. The limitation of this static geography in dynamic times is explored using relational geographies based upon airline flights and passengers between cities. Flight patterns for 1970, 1991 and 2005 are used to show the prime finding that contrasts a dense Pacific Asian network with airline patterns in the rest of the ‘South’. In addition, there appears to be bifurcation of the ‘South’ with Latin America having less inter‐regional South‐South links than other regions. Specific origin/destination data for 2001 provide a cross‐sectional depiction of the details of this South geography and confirm the very large flows into, through and out of Pacific Asia. These results are interpreted using Jacobs’ work on economic change and moral syndromes. We conclude that ‘Global South’ is a geographical chaotic conception, which has possible implications for its major sponsor, the United Nations Development Programme, wedded to an old political geography while ‘real, existing’ economic development proceeds regardless.

ResumenEste trabajo explora la interconexión entre enfoques y metodologías procedentes de la Geografía y de la Antropología Social con vistas al estudio de fenómenos sociales y espaciales. Plantea cómo la utilización conjunta e informada de técnicas de investigación cuantitativas, como los análisis de conectividad área, y cualitativas, como el trabajo de campo etnográfico, resulta fundamental para el entendimiento de procesos de globalización socio-económica marcados por la movilidad. El estudio de la movilidad aérea en México revela la existencia de patrones de relaciones multi-escalares y multi-funcionales que son clave para explicar la dinámica de relaciones sociales y territoriales concretas en el contexto de la inserción mexicana en las políticas neoliberales. Concretamente, para analizar los impactos locales de reajustes en el ordenamiento regional, las migraciones laborales, el turismo, los procesos de desarrollo/subdesarrollo así como los procesos de uniformización y de hibridación cultural.Palabras clave: geografía, movilidad, globalización, México, Península de Yucatán, transporte aéreo, diálogo interdisciplinar. AbstractThis paper explores the interconnected relationship between Geography and Social Anthropology in the study of social and spatial phenomena. It argues that the informed and combined use of quantitative and qualitative research techniques, like air connectivity analysis and ethnographic fieldwork, are fundamental in the understanding of socioeconomic globalization processes, and particularly in those characterized by mobility. The study of air mobility in Mexico highlights the existence of multi-scalar and multi-functional patterns of relations that are vital to explain the situated dynamics of the social and territorial relations that have followed the country's adoption of neoliberal policies. And specifically, to analyze proces-1 Este trabajo forma parte de los resultados del proyecto de investigación CSO2011-26527 (Imaginarios y movilidades turísticas en tiempos de crisis) que desarrolla el Grupo de Investigación UCM-940614 (Territorio, Desarrollo y Cultura).