Theoretical framework -- Global and local forces in cities undergoing political change / Rita Schneider-Sliwa -- Geographical contexts -- Berlin : coping with the past--looking ahead / Karl Lenz -- The political geography of an eternal city : ethno-territorial fragmentation in a "united" Jerusalem / David Newman -- Power transferred -- Hong Kong : China's global city / Werner Breitung -- Sarajevo : isolation in a country falling apart / Dušan Šimko -- Ideology collapsed -- Moscow : capital of a decimated world power / Jörg Stadelbauer -- St. Petersburg : kiosks as mediators of the new market economy / Alexander Papadopoulos and Konstantin Axenov -- Johannesburg : life after apartheid / Jürgen Bähr and Ulrich Jürgens -- Horizons expanded -- New perspectives for Vienna : repositioning between East and West / Andrea Kampschulte -- Brussels : pseudo-capital of Europe. Perspectives of Belgium's global city in-the-making / Alexander Papadopoulos -- Development handicapped -- Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City : the long struggle of two cities, recovering from endless war / Rudolf Marr -- Synopsis -- Global change and local reality / Rita Schneider-Sliwa -- Authors' vitae.