Global city

"World city" redirects here. For other uses, see World city (disambiguation).

A global city (also called world city or sometimes alpha city or world center) is a city generally considered to be an important node in the global economic system. The concept comes from geography and urban studies and rests on the idea that globalization can be understood as largely created, facilitated, and enacted in strategic geographic locales according to a hierarchy of importance to the operation of the global system of finance and trade.

The most complex of these entities is the "global city", whereby the linkages binding a city have a direct and tangible effect on global affairs through socio-economic means. The use of "global city", as opposed to "megacity", was popularized by sociologist Saskia Sassen in her 1991 work, The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo though the term "world city" to describe cities that control a disproportionate amount of global business dates to at least the May 1886 description of Liverpool by The Illustrated London News. Patrick Geddes also used the term "world city" later in 1915. Cities can fall from such categorization, as in the case of cities that have become less cosmopolitan and less internationally renowned in the current era, e.g., Alexandria, Egypt; Coimbra, Portugal; Stralsund, Germany; and Thessaloniki, Greece.

Criteria

Global city status is considered to be beneficial and desired, and because of this many groups have tried to classify and rank which cities are seen as world cities or non-world cities. Although there is a consensus upon leading world cities, the criteria upon which a classification is made can affect which other cities are included. The criteria for identification tend either to be based on a yardstick value (e.g., if the producer-service sector is the largest sector then city X is a world city) or on an imminent determination (if the producer-service sector of city X is greater than the combined producer-service sectors of N other cities then city X is a world city.)

Economic characteristics

The New York Stock Exchange, New York City

• Serve as the corporate headquarter sites for multinational corporations, international financial institutions, law firms, conglomerates, and stock exchanges that influence the world economy
• Contribute significant financial capacity/output to the city's, region's, or even nation's, Gross domestic product (GDP)
• House the major stock market indices/market capitalisation
• Provide a variety of international financial services, notably in the FIRE industries, banking, accountancy, and marketing
• Appear near the top of cost of living

Political characteristics

The Palace of Westminster, London

• Active influence on, and participation in, international events and world affairs; for example, Beijing, Berlin, [[London]], Moscow, New Delhi, Paris, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C. are capitals of influential nations.
• Hosting headquarters for international organizations such as the United Nations (New York City), the World Bank (Washington, D.C.), or NATO (Brussels).
• A large city proper, population of the municipality (the centre of a metropolitan area, typically several million) or agglomeration
• Diverse demographic constituencies based on various indicators: population, habitat, mobility, and urbanisation
• Quality of life standards or city development
• Expatriate communities

Cultural characteristics

The Louvre, Paris

• Renowned cultural institutions (often with high endowments), such as notable museums and galleries, notable opera companies, major ballet companies, orchestras, notable film centres, and theatre centres. A lively cultural scene, including film festivals (such as the Toronto International Film Festival), premieres, a thriving music scene, nightlife, an opera company, art galleries, street performers, and annual parades.
• Several influential media organisations with an international reach, including Thomson Reuters, Bloomberg, The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Agence France-Presse, or Associated Press.
• A strong sporting community, including major sports facilities, home teams in major league sports, and the ability and historical experience to host international sporting events such as the Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup, or Grand Slam tennis events.
• Educational institutions; e.g., renowned universities, international student attendance, research facilities
• Sites of pilgrimage for world religions (for example, Mecca, Jerusalem or Rome)
• Cities containing World Heritage Sites of historical and cultural significance
• Tourism throughout
• City as site or subject in arts and media, television, film, video games, music, literature, magazines, articles, documentary
• City as an often repeated historic reference, showcase, or symbolic actions

Infrastructural characteristics

File:Mountfujijapan.jpg

The Shinkansen, Tokyo

• An advanced transportation system that includes several highways and/or a large mass transit network offering multiple modes of transportation (rapid transit, light rail, regional rail, ferry, or bus).
• Extensive and popular mass transit systems, prominent rail usage, road vehicle usage, major seaports
• A major international airport that serves as an established hub for several international airlines. Airports with significant passenger traffic and international passengers traffic or cargo movements.
• An advanced communications infrastructure on which modern trans-national corporations rely, such as fiberoptics, Wi-Fi networks, cellular phone services, and other high-speed lines of communications. For example, Seoul and Tokyo are known as the digital and technology capitals of the world.
• Health facilities; e.g., hospitals, medical laboratories
• Prominent skylines/skyscrapers (for example, Hong Kong, New York City, Shanghai, Tokyo, Dubai, Chicago, Guangzhou, Bangkok, Shenzhen, Singapore)
• Cities' telephone and mail services, airport flights-range, traffic congestion, availability of water, train facilities, nearby parks, hospitals, libraries, police stations, etc.

Studies

GaWC study

The first attempt to define, categorize and rank global cities using relational data was made in 1998 by Jon Beaverstock, Richard G. Smith and Peter J. Taylor, who all worked at the time at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom. Together, Beaverstock, Smith and Taylor established the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. A roster of world cities was outlined in the GaWC Research Bulletin 5 and ranked cities based on their connectivity through four "advanced producer services": accountancy, advertising, banking/finance, and law. The GaWC inventory identifies three levels of global cities and several sub-ranks.

The 2004 rankings acknowledged several new indicators while continuing to rank city economics more heavily than political or cultural factors. The 2008 roster, similar to the 1998 version, is sorted into categories of "Alpha" world cities (with four sub-categories), "Beta" world cities (three sub-categories), "Gamma" world cities (three sub-categories) and additional cities with "High sufficiency" or "Sufficiency" presence. The following is a general guide to the rankings:

• Alpha++ cities are New York City and London, which are vastly more integrated with the global economy than any other cities.
• Alpha+ cities complement London and New York by filling advanced service niches for the global economy.
• Alpha & Alpha- cities are cities that link major economic regions into the world economy.
• Beta level cities are cities that link moderate economic regions into the world economy.
• Gamma level cities are cities that link smaller economic regions into the world economy.
• Sufficiency level cities are cities that have a sufficient degree of services so as to not be obviously dependent on world cities.

The 2010 roster of leading world cities and "sufficient" cities is as follows:

A map showing the distribution of GaWC-ranked world cities (2010 data).

Cate­gory	Cities
Al­pha++	London New York City
Al­pha+	Hong Kong Paris Singapore Tokyo Shanghai Chicago Dubai Sydney
Al­pha	Milan Beijing Toronto São Paulo Madrid Mumbai Los Angeles Moscow Frankfurt Mexico City Amsterdam Buenos Aires Kuala Lumpur Seoul Brussels Jakarta San Francisco Washington, D.C.
Al­pha−	Miami Dublin Melbourne Zurich New Delhi Munich Johannesburg Boston Warsaw Dallas Vienna Atlanta Barcelona Bangkok Taipei Santiago Athens Philadelphia Istanbul

Cate­gory	Cities
Beta+	Düsseldorf Stockholm Prague Montreal Rome Hamburg Manila Houston Berlin Lisbon Tel Aviv Bangalore Copenhagen Cairo Bogotá Vancouver
Beta	Budapest Beirut Luxembourg Guangzhou Seattle Caracas Ho Chi Minh City Auckland Oslo Kiev Chennai Bucharest Manchester Karachi Lima Cape Town Riyadh Nicosia Minneapolis
Beta−	Abu Dhabi Montevideo Birmingham Rio de Janeiro Brisbane Geneva Kolkata Detroit Denver Monterrey Bratislava Port Louis Casablanca Manama Stuttgart Sofia Cologne St. Louis Helsinki Panama City San Diego Lagos Perth Shenzhen Cleveland San Juan Calgary Guatemala City Osaka

Cate­gory	Cities
Gam­ma+	Glasgow Nairobi Bristol Hanoi Cincinnati Charlotte Antwerp Doha Lahore Baltimore Jeddah Edinburgh Amman Hyderabad Zagreb Adelaide Kuwait City Portland Belgrade San José Tunis San Jose Riga
Gam­ma	Valencia Kansas City Phoenix Almaty Guadalajara Lyon Quito Saint Petersburg Leeds Santo Domingo San Salvador Vilnius Rotterdam Tampa Columbus Indianapolis Pittsburgh Edmonton
Gam­ma−	Tallinn Pune Porto Porto Alegre Orlando Gothenburg Marseille Ottawa Colombo Ljubljana Tegucigalpa Richmond Islamabad Muscat Durban Austin Belfast Guayaquil Nagoya Turin Southampton Milwaukee Wellington Curitiba Accra George Town

Cate­gory	Cities
High suffi­cien­cy	Jacksonville Leipzig Raleigh Strasbourg Tijuana Brasília Salt Lake City Ankara Pretoria Tianjin Bilbao Ahmedabad Las Vegas Belo Horizonte Liverpool Malmö Nuremberg Canberra Wroclaw Querétaro Nassau Utrecht Bologna Newcastle La Paz Asunción Hartford Seville Thessaloniki Kraków Nashville Salvador Algiers Dresden The Hague Poznań

Cate­gory

Cities

Suffi­cien­cy

Florence Medellín Winnipeg Nantes Sacramento Cebu Toulouse Recife Dar es Salaam Kaohsiung Surabaya Managua Puebla Hamilton Christchurch Bordeaux Tulsa Dakar Halifax San Antonio Johor Baharu Tirana Quebec Lausanne Baku Luanda Bremen Aberdeen Birmingham Dhaka Nanjing Chihuahua Hanover Naples Providence Penang Omaha Chengdu Abuja Port of Spain Aarhus Leon Fukuoka Honolulu Genoa Kampala Hangzhou Palo Alto Córdoba Abidjan Tbilisi Qingdao Skopje Campinas Rochester Windhoek Memphis Nottingham Ciudad Juárez Dalian Kyoto Alexandria Sheffield Santa Cruz Izmir Gaborone Cali Dortmund Norwich New Orleans Valencia Harare Jerusalem Basel Macau Montpellier Minsk Linz Haifa Douala Labuan Nice

Global Cities Index

In 2008, the American journal Foreign Policy, in conjunction with the Chicago-based consulting firm A.T. Kearney and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, published a ranking of global cities, based on consultation with Saskia Sassen, Witold Rybczynski, and others. Foreign Policy noted that "the world’s biggest, most interconnected cities help set global agendas, weather transnational dangers, and serve as the hubs of global integration. They are the engines of growth for their countries and the gateways to the resources of their regions." The ranking was updated in 2010 and 2012.

#1 New York

#2 London

#3 Paris

#4 Tokyo

#5 Hong Kong

#6 Los Angeles

#7 Chicago

#8 Seoul

#9 Brussels

#10 Washington, D.C.

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Top ten global cities

Rank 2012	Change	City	Rating
1		New York City	6.35
2		London	5.79
3	1	Paris	5.48
4	1	Tokyo	4.99
5		Hong Kong	4.56
6	1	Los Angeles	3.94
7	1	Chicago	3.66
8	2	Seoul	3.41
9	2	Brussels	3.33
10	3	Washington, D.C.	3.22
11	3	Singapore	3.20
12	3	Sydney	3.13
13	5	Vienna	3.11
14	1	Beijing	3.05
15	4	Boston	2.94
16	2	Toronto	2.92
17	5	San Francisco	2.89
18	1	Madrid	2.80
19	6	Moscow	2.77
20	4	Berlin	2.76
21		Shanghai	2.73
22		Buenos Aires	2.71
23	3	Frankfurt	2.69
24	2	Barcelona	2.59
25	1	Zurich	2.53

Rank 2012	Change	City	Rating
26	3	Amsterdam	2.45
27	4	Stockholm	2.43
28		Rome	2.36
29	2	Dubai	2.32
30	1	Montreal	2.32
31	2	Munich	2.31
32	NA	Melbourne	2.25
33	2	São Paulo	2.19
34	4	Mexico City	2.18
35	3	Geneva	2.13
36	2	Miami	2.13
37	4	Istanbul	2.10
38		Houston	2.08
39	1	Atlanta	2.06
40	1	Taipei	2.05
41	1	Milan	2.01
42	5	Copenhagen	1.99
43	7	Bangkok	1.93
44		Athens	1.82
45	1	Mumbai	1.79
46	4	Tel Aviv	1.69
47		Osaka	1.57
48	3	New Delhi	1.55
49	1	Kuala Lumpur	1.49
50	7	Cairo	1.49

Rank 2012	Change	City	Rating
51		Manila	1.49
52		Johannesburg	1.48
53	4	Rio de Janeiro	1.31
54	1	Jakarta	1.30
55	1	Bogota	1.17
56		Nairobi	0.98
57	2	Caracas	0.89
58		Bangalore	0.85
59		Lagos	0.84
60	3	Guangzhou	0.82
61		Ho Chi Minh City	0.72
62	2	Karachi	0.66
63	1	Dhaka	0.65
64	1	Kolkata	0.63
65	3	Shenzhen	0.62
66	1	Chongqing	0.25

Global Economic Power Index

In 2012, the first Global Economic Power Index, a "survey of the surveys" written by Richard Florida, was published by The Atlantic (to be differentiated from a namesake list published by the Martin Prosperity Institute), with cities ranked according to criteria reflecting their presence on similar lists as published by other entities:

Rank	City	Score
1	New York City	48
2	London	43
3	Tokyo	37
4	Paris	25
4	Hong Kong	25
6	Chicago	20
7	Singapore	15
8	Shanghai	11
9	Los Angeles	10
10	Zurich	9
11	Seoul	6
11	Boston	6
11	Beijing	6
14	Washington, D.C.	5
15	Osaka	4
16	Brussels	2
16	Rhine-Ruhr	2
18	Toronto	1
18	Shenzhen	1

Global Power City Index

The Institute for Urban Strategies at The Mori Memorial Foundation in Tokyo issued a comprehensive study of global cities in 2012. The ranking is based on six overall categories, "Economy", "Research & Development", "Cultural Interaction", "Livability", "Environment", and "Accessibility", with 70 individual indicators among them. This Japanese ranking also breaks down top ten world cities ranked in subjective categories such as "manager, researcher, artist, visitor and resident."

Rank	City	Score
1	London	1452.5
2	New York City	1376.6
3	Paris	1349.6
4	Tokyo	1324.9
5	Singapore	1118.6
6	Seoul	1081.1
7	Amsterdam	1068.3
8	Berlin	1047.3
9	Hong Kong	1038.2
10	Vienna	1016.7
11	Beijing	978.3
12	Frankfurt	966.7
13	Barcelona	964.6
14	Shanghai	964.5
15	Sydney	962.8
16	Stockholm	961.2
17	Osaka	942.1
18	Zurich	937.9
19	Brussels	931.3
20	Copenhagen	929.7
21	Toronto	925.6
22	Madrid	908.6
23	Los Angeles	890.7
24	Vancouver	890.1
25	Istanbul	875.4
26	Athens	872.7
27	Boston	858.4
28	Chicago	854.1
29	Geneva	852.8
30	Washington, D.C.	836.5
31	San Francisco	833.3
32	Milan	831.4
33	Taipei	800.3
34	Kuala Lumpur	788.1
35	Bangkok	781.4
36	Mexico City	781.0
37	Moscow	760.2
38	São Paulo	667.7
39	Mumbai	608.1
40	Cairo	601.0

The Wealth Report

"The Wealth Report" (a global perspective on prime property and wealth) is made by the London based estate agent Knight Frank LLP together with the Citi Private Bank. The report includes a "Global City Survey", evaluating which cities are considered the most important to the world’s HNWIs (high-net-worth individuals, having over $25million of investable assets). For the Global City Survey, Citi Private Bank’s wealth advisors, and Knight Frank’s luxury property specialists were asked to name the cities that they felt were the most important to HNWIs, in regard to: "economic activity", "political power", "knowledge and influence" and "quality of life".

Overall rank	City	Economic activity	Political power	Quality of life	Knowledge & influence
1	New York City	1	7	6	2
2	London	2	5	8	1
3	Paris	4	8	11	4
4	Tokyo	3	6	23	13
5	Hong Kong	7	10	26	6
6	Singapore	8	23	22	3
7	Sydney	17	12	3	7
8	Washington, D.C.	14	1	19	23
9	Toronto	12	15	4	15
10	Zurich	11	24	1	22
11	Berlin	10	4	18	9
12	Brussels	27	3	25	21
13	Seoul	28	11	28	10
14	Boston	19	25	24	5
15	Beijing	6	2	40	27
16	Vancouver	38	19	7	16
17	Chicago	13	29	20	14
18	Vienna	23	27	13	8
19	Amsterdam	16	26	14	19
20	Los Angeles	21	30	15	10
21	Stockholm	22	28	9	18
22	Melbourne	30	35	2	12
23	Frankfurt	9	33	5	36
24	Shanghai	5	17	39	35
25	San Francisco	15	34	27	20
26	Miami	29	20	17	34
27	Geneva	26	38	10	24
28	Oslo	20	32	21	32
29	Dubai	18	18	36	29
30	Moscow	24	9	37	31
31	Montreal	37	31	16	17
32	Auckland	33	40	12	33
33	Tel Aviv	39	13	30	38
34	Milan	31	37	29	25
35	Buenos Aires	40	14	35	28
36	São Paulo	32	16	33	37
37	Abu Dhabi	25	21	38	40
38	Mumbai	36	22	32	39
39	Kuala Lumpur	34	36	31	30
40	Bangkok	35	39	34	26

Global City Competitiveness Index

In 2012, the Economist Intelligence Unit (The Economist Group), ranked the competitiveness of global cities according to their demonstrated ability to attract capital, businesses, talent and visitors.

Rank	City	Score
1	New York City	71.4
2	London	70.4
3	Singapore	70.0
4	Hong Kong	69.3
4	Paris	69.3
6	Tokyo	68.0
7	Zurich	66.8
8	Washington, D.C.	66.1
9	Chicago	65.9
10	Boston	64.5
11	Frankfurt	64.1
12	Toronto	63.9
13	Geneva	63.3
13	San Francisco	63.3
15	Sydney	63.1
16	Melbourne	62.7
17	Amsterdam	62.4
18	Vancouver	61.8
19	Los Angeles	61.5
20	Seoul	60.5
20	Stockholm	60.5
22	Montreal	60.3
23	Copenhagen	59.9
23	Houston	59.9
25	Dallas	59.8
25	Vienna	59.8
27	Dublin	59.5
28	Madrid	59.4
29	Seattle	59.3
30	Philadelphia	58.5
31	Atlanta	58.2
31	Berlin	58.2
33	Oslo	57.2
34	Brussels	57.1
35	Hamburg	56.8
36	Auckland	56.7
37	Birmingham	56.6
37	Taipei	56.6
39	Beijing	56.0
40	Dubai	55.9

Rank	City	Score
41	Abu Dhabi	55.8
41	Barcelona	55.8
43	Miami	55.2
43	Shanghai	55.2
45	Kuala Lumpur	55.0
46	Prague	53.7
47	Doha	52.9
47	Milan	52.9
47	Osaka	52.9
50	Nagoya	52.3
50	Rome	52.3
52	Shenzhen	51.7
53	Warsaw	51.3
54	Monaco	51.0
55	Budapest	50.4
56	Incheon	50.2
57	Lisbon	49.5
58	Moscow	49.4
59	Tel Aviv	49.3
60	Buenos Aires	49.2
61	Bangkok	49.0
62	São Paulo	48.3
63	Fukuoka	47.7
64	Busan	47.4
64	Guangzhou	47.4
66	Kraków	47.3
67	Johannesburg	47.1
68	Delhi	46.7
68	Santiago	46.7
70	Mumbai	46.6
71	Mexico City	46.2
72	Athens	46.1
73	Cape Town	45.9
74	Istanbul	45.5
75	Tianjin	45.4
76	Bucharest	44.9
76	Rio de Janeiro	44.9
78	Panama City	44.8
79	Bangalore	44.6
80	Kuwait City	44.2

Rank	City	Score
81	Jakarta	44.1
82	Dalian	44.0
83	Chengdu	43.5
84	Suzhou	43.4
85	Manila	43.2
86	Muscat	43.0
87	Chongqing	42.9
88	Lima	42.5
89	Bogotá	42.3
90	Monterrey	42.2
91	Qingdao	42.1
92	Ahmedabad	41.9
93	Hangzhou	41.6
94	Durban	41.2
95	Ankara	40.9
96	Medellín	40.0
97	Pune	39.8
98	Belo Horizonte	39.4
98	Hyderabad	39.4
100	Almaty	39.3
100	Saint Petersburg	39.3
102	Guadalajara	39.0
102	Porto Alegre	39.0
104	Hanoi	38.8
105	Chennai	38.1
106	Kolkata	37.8
106	Riyadh	37.8
108	Kiev	36.9
109	Ho Chi Minh City	36.5
110	Surabaya	35.9
111	Colombo	35.6
112	Karachi	35.5
113	Cairo	35.0
114	Bandung	34.8
115	Nairobi	34.6
116	Alexandria	31.8
117	Beirut	30.6
118	Dhaka	27.7
119	Lagos	27.6
120	Tehran	27.2

See also

• Metropolis
• Megalopolis (city type)
• List of cities by GDP
• Primate city
• Financial centre
• Ecumenopolis
• Ranally city rating system
• Index of urban studies articles

External links

• Repository of Links Relating to Urban Places
• The World-System’s City System: A Research Agenda by Jeffrey Kentor and Michael Timberlake of the University of Utah and David Smith of University of California, Irvine
• The State of the World's Cities, 2001, UN Human Settlements Programme