Cette thèse étudie le processus historique de mégapolisation de São Paulo au Brésil et Mumbai (ex-Bombay) en Inde depuis l’accélération urbaine mondiale dans les années 1950 jusqu’ à nos jours. L’objectif est de dégager les mécanismes de la mégapolisation à travers l’examen de ces deux métropoles du Sud. Chacune est donc analysée à travers trois facteurs stratégiques interreliés qui déclenchent et soutiennent leur développement, à savoir le contexte politique, économique et urbain. En tant que villes globales elles deviennent un enjeu pour leurs nations, et plus généralement pour les pays en développement, Elles soutiennent l’émergence de ces pays ainsi qu’un autre modèle de développement. Les examiner revêt donc un caractère stratégique. A l’heure de la métropolisation de nos systèmes urbains, cette analyse prend une dimension toute particulière. En effet, bien que le contexte notamment politique et de développement, de São Paulo et Mumbai diverge des autres grandes villes à vocation mondiale de l’hémisphère Nord, leurs exemples apportent un éclairage instructif sur les écueils et les réponses mis en oeuvre pour améliorer cette voie urbaine de développement. / This thesis has been exploring the historical process of megapolization (overdevelopment) of São Paulo in Brazil and Mumbai (ex-Bombay) in India since the world urban acceleration in the 1950s until today. The objective is to identify the mechanisms of megapolization through the examination of these two Southern cities. Each one is analyzed through three interrelated strategic factors: the political, economic and urban context that trigger and sustain their development. Global cities are strategic places for their nations and more generally for the developing countries. They support the emergence of these territories territories and an other development path. Considering them is therefore a strategic issue. At the time of the cities metropolization, this analysis takes on a particular dimension. Although, the São Paulo and Mumbai context and development diverge from other world cities in the northern hemisphere, their example sheds light on the pitfalls and answers to improve this urban development.

This dissertation analyses the consequences of seemingly placeless processes like the European integration and the increasing economic globalisation on Brussels and the people living there. The study shows that Brussels has become one of our time's most important international political capitals and a leading business node in Europe. European institutions, international organisations, headquarters and subsidiaries of transnational corporations are increasingly locating themselves in Brussels. Simultaneously there has been an influx of transnational professionals working in the international sector. This research shows that with the internationalisation of Brussels there has been concomitant economic restructuring with the emergence of an advanced service economy. The labour market has become polarised between those who have jobs and those who do not. Brussels has also experienced a spatial and socio-economic polarisation along ethnic lines. The thesis explores the connections between these changes and Brussels' international role. Drawing on the world / global city thesis of Saskia Sassen and John Friedmann, a theoretical framework is developed to analyse this. One of the important results of this study is that the world / global city thesis needs to be complemented with a thorough analysis of the place: the political and historical context, and also the role of the local agents, to enable an explanation of the observed development. The interplay between global and local processes needs to be clarified. It is also argued that to properly understand cities with an international role like Brussels, we need to know why international agents locate there. Michael Storper's concepts of 'economic reflexivity' and 'territorial specificities' are used to analyse the rise of Brussels into a reflexive world city - a city vibrating with specific knowledge, produced through inter alia social interaction and critical reflection, that some transnational agents find extremely vital to tap into.