Cosmo - relating to the world or universe. Greek root meaning a harmonious whole.
Polis - city-state in Greece, especially in its ideal form for philosophical purposes.
We can take Cosmopolis then to mean city as metaphor for the ordered world or universe and while that city is New York in Delillo's source novel and ostensibly so in Cronenberg's adaptation the film exists in what Cronenberg terms a "mythic New York." Certain streets are recognizable, street names as well, but the majority of the city is projected on a Toronto green screen; a kind of second-class reality to the bubble of hyperrealism within Eric Packard's limosuine—the true reality of the book and film. It is here that we breathe the rarified air of the one percent. Seen through Cronenberg's lense they…