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"World city" redirects here. For hypothetical planetwide cities, see Ecumenopolis. For other uses, see World city (disambiguation).

New York City (top) and London (bottom) are the only two cities ranked in the Alpha ++ category by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Both cities are considered leading financial, commercial and cultural centers.

A global city[a] is a city that serves as a primary node in the global economic network. The concept originates from geography and urban studies, based on the thesis that globalization has created a hierarchy of strategic geographic locations with varying degrees of influence over finance, trade, and culture worldwide.[1] The global city represents the most complex and significant hub within the international system, characterized by links binding it to other cities that have direct, tangible effects on global socioeconomic affairs.[2]

The criteria of a global city vary depending on the source.[3] Common features include a high degree of urban development, a large population, the presence of major multinational companies, a significant and globalized financial sector, a well-developed and internationally linked transportation infrastructure, local or national economic dominance, high quality educational and research institutions, and a globally influential output of ideas, innovations, or cultural products. Quintessential examples, based on most indices and research, include New York City, London, Paris, and Tokyo.

Origin and terminology

The term 'global city' was popularized by sociologist Saskia Sassen in her 1991 book, The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo.[4] Before then, other terms were used for urban centers with roughly the same features. The term 'world city', meaning a city heavily involved in global trade, appeared in a May 1886 description of Liverpool, by The Illustrated London News;[5] British sociologist and geographer Patrick Geddes used the term in 1915.[6] The term 'megacity' entered common use in the late 19th or early 20th century, the earliest known example being a publication by the University of Texas in 1904.[7] In the 21st century, the terms are usually focused on a city's financial power and high technology infrastructure.[8][9]

Criteria

Manhattan, the core area of New York City, an Alpha++ global city, where there are several characteristic elements of global cities[10] like worldwide influential economic (New York Stock Exchange) and cultural (Broadway) centers, headquarters of international political organizations (UN headquarters), world renowned museums (the Met Museum, MOMA, Guggenheim Museum), and worldwide-known landmarks (Times Square, Empire State Building, Central Park)

Competing groups have devised competing means to classify and rank world cities and to distinguish them from other cities.[6] Although there is a consensus on the leading world cities,[11] the chosen criteria affect which other cities are included.[6] Selection criteria may be based on a yardstick value (e.g., if the producer-service sector is the largest sector then city X is a world city)[6] 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.)[6] Although criteria are variable and fluid, typical characteristics of world cities include:[12]

General rankings

Global city rankings are numerous.[15] New York City, London, Tokyo, and Paris are the most commonly mentioned.[16][17]

GaWC World Cities

Main article: Globalization and World Cities Research Network

The Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) is a think tank that studies the relationships between world cities in the context of globalization. It is based in the geography department of Loughborough University in Leicestershire, United Kingdom. GaWC was founded by Peter J. Taylor in 1998.[18] Together with Jon Beaverstock and Richard G. Smith, they create the GaWC's biennial categorization of world cities into "Alpha", "Beta" and "Gamma" tiers, based upon their international connectedness.[19] The cities in the top two classifications in the 2024 edition are:[20]

Alpha ++

Alpha +

Global Cities Index (Kearney)

In 2008, the American journal Foreign Policy, working with the 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.[21] 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."[22] The ranking is based on 27 metrics across five dimensions: business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement.[23] Since 2015, it has been published with a separate index, the Global Cities Outlook, which is a projection of a city's potential based on rate of change in 13 indicators across four dimensions: personal well-being, economics, innovation, and governance. The top ranked cities in 2024 are:[24]

  1. United States New York City
  2. United Kingdom London
  3. France Paris
  4. Japan Tokyo
  5. Singapore Singapore
  6. China Beijing
  7. United States Los Angeles
  8. China Shanghai
  9. Hong Kong Hong Kong
  10. United States Chicago

Global Cities Index (Oxford Economics)

Advisory firm Oxford Economics released its Global Cities Index in 2024, ranking the world's largest 1,000 cities based on 27 indicators across five categories (economics, human capital, quality of life, environment, and governance) with more weight on economic factors. The top ranked cities in 2024 are:[25]

  1. United States New York City
  2. United Kingdom London
  3. United States San Jose
  4. Japan Tokyo
  5. France Paris
  6. United States Seattle
  7. United States Los Angeles
  8. United States San Francisco
  9. Australia Melbourne
  10. Switzerland Zurich

Global Economic Power Index

The Global Economic Power Index reflecting three dimensions of economic power was introduced in 2012.[26] In 2015, the second Global Economic Power Index, a meta list compiled by Richard Florida, was published by The Atlantic (distinct from a namesake list[27] published by the Martin Prosperity Institute), with city composite rank based on five other lists.[27][28] The top global cities in 2015 are:

  1. United States New York City
  2. United Kingdom London
  3. Japan Tokyo
  4. Hong Kong Hong Kong
  5. France Paris
  6. Singapore Singapore
  7. United States Los Angeles
  8. South Korea Seoul
  9. Austria Vienna
  10. Sweden Stockholm & Canada Toronto

Global Power City Index

The Tokyo-based Institute for Urban Strategies at The Mori Memorial Foundation, issued a study of global cities in 2008. They are ranked in six categories: economy, research and development, cultural interaction, livability, environment, and accessibility, with 70 individual indicators among them. The top ten world cities are also ranked by subjective categories, including manager, researcher, artist, visitor and resident.[29][30] The top 10 cities in 2023 are:[29]

  1. United Kingdom London
  2. United States New York City
  3. Japan Tokyo
  4. France Paris
  5. Singapore Singapore
  6. Netherlands Amsterdam
  7. South Korea Seoul
  8. United Arab Emirates Dubai
  9. Australia Melbourne
  10. Germany Berlin

Financial rankings

Global Financial Centres Index

Main article: Global Financial Centres Index

Strength as a financial center has become one of the pre-eminent indicators of a global city's ranking. As of 2024,[31] the cities representing the top ten financial centers according to the Global Financial Centres Index by the think tank China Development Institute and analytics firm Z/Yen are:[32]

  1. United States New York City
  2. United Kingdom London
  3. Singapore Singapore
  4. Hong Kong Hong Kong
  5. United States San Francisco
  6. China Shanghai
  7. Switzerland Geneva
  8. United States Los Angeles
  9. United States Chicago
  10. South Korea Seoul

The Wealth Report

Estate agent Knight Frank LLP and the Citi Private Bank publish The Wealth Report, which includes a "Global Cities Survey", evaluating the most important cities to high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs, having over $25 million of investable assets each). Criteria are economic activity, political power, knowledge and influence, and quality of life.[33][34] The most important cities to UHNWIs in 2022 are:[35]

  1. United Kingdom London
  1. France Paris & United States New York City
  1. United States Los Angeles
  1. Japan Tokyo
  1. United States Chicago
  1. Singapore Singapore
  1. Hong Kong Hong Kong
  1. Canada Toronto
  1. China Beijing

Social rankings

The World's Most Talked About Cities

London-based built environment communications firm ING Media ranked 250 cities by total online mentions across social media and online news. A fifth of digital mentions were for Tokyo, New York City, London, and Paris, identifying these as the world's super brands.[36] Top cities in the 2019 edition are:[37]

  1. Japan Tokyo
  2. United States New York City
  3. United Kingdom London
  4. France Paris
  5. Spain Madrid
  6. United Arab Emirates Dubai
  7. Italy Rome
  8. Spain Barcelona
  9. South Korea Seoul
  10. Japan Osaka

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Also known as a power city, world city, alpha city, or world center

References

  1. ^ Lenormand, Maxime; Gonçalves, Bruno; Tugores, Antònia; Ramasco, José J. (2015). "Human diffusion and city influence". Journal of the Royal Society Interface. 12 (109): 20150473. doi:10.1098/rsif.2015.0473. PMC 4535413. PMID 26179991.
  2. ^ Sassen, Saskia (July 2001). "The global city: strategic site/new frontier". Seminar Magazine. No. 503. Archived from the original on 18 October 2006.
  3. ^ "global city". Britannica. Archived from the original on 20 October 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  4. ^ Sassen, Saskia. The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo. 1991. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-07063-6. Archived 16 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ^ Belchem, John (18 December 2009). "The Empire in One City? Liverpool's Inconvenient Imperial Past". Reviews in History. Archived from the original on 23 June 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  6. ^ a b c d e Doel, M., & Hubbard, P., (2002), "Taking World Cities Literally: Marketing the City in a Global Space of flows", City, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 351–368. Subscription required.
  7. ^ Hemisfile: Perspectives on Political and Economic Trends in the Americas. Institute of the Americas. 1994.
  8. ^ "Asian Cities Pay Hidden Price for Global Status". The Diplomat. 15 February 2015. Archived from the original on 1 February 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  9. ^ "The World's Most Influential Cities". Forbes. 14 August 2014. Archived from the original on 5 September 2017. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  10. ^ "What are the characteristics of world cities and megacities, and how has their distribution changed since 1950? – HBK Portal". Archived from the original on 17 November 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  11. ^ GaWC Research Bulletin 5 Archived 8 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine, GaWC, Loughborough University, 28 July 1999
  12. ^ Pashley, Rosemary. "HSC Geography". Pascal Press, 2000, p.164
  13. ^ J.V. Beaverstock, World City Networks 'From Below' Archived 8 March 2006 at the Wayback Machine, GaWC, Loughborough University, 29 September 2010
  14. ^ K. O'Connor, International Students and Global Cities Archived 5 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine, GaWC, Loughborough University, 17 February 2005
  15. ^ "Decoding City Performance". Jll.co.uk. 2 April 2019. Archived from the original on 16 October 2019. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  16. ^ "Struggling Giants". University of Minnesota Press. Archived from the original on 17 January 2021. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  17. ^ Abrahamson, Mark (2004). Global cities (PDF) (1st ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0195142044. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  18. ^ Taylor, Peter J. (2004). World city network: a global urban analysis. Routledge. p. ix. ISBN 0-415-30249-8. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
  19. ^ Donald, Stephanie; Gammack, John G. (2007). Tourism and the branded city. London: Ashgate Publishing. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-7546-4829-1. Archived from the original on 30 June 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
  20. ^ "World Cities 2024". GaWC. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  21. ^ "2012 Global Cities Index and Emerging Cities Outlook". Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  22. ^ "The 2008 Global Cities Index". Foreign Policy (November/December 2008). 21 October 2008. Archived from the original on 7 January 2010. Retrieved 31 October 2008.
  23. ^ "Read @ATKearney: Una Cuestión de Talento: Cómo el Capital Humano Determinará los Próximos Líderes Mundiales". Atkearney.com. Archived from the original on 20 December 2019. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  24. ^ "Resurgent in a world at risk: 2024 Global Cities Report". Kearney.
  25. ^ Millson, Alex (21 May 2024). "New York, London Top Oxford Economics Ranking of 1,000 Global Cities". Bloomberg. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
  26. ^ "What Is the World's Most Economically Powerful City?". The Atlantic. 10 March 2015. Archived from the original on 10 March 2015.
  27. ^ a b Richard Florida (3 March 2015). "Sorry, London: New York Is the World's Most Economically Powerful City". The Atlantic Monthly Group. Archived from the original on 14 March 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2015. Our new ranking puts the Big Apple firmly on top.
  28. ^ "The Top 10 most powerful cities in the world". Yahoo! India Finance. 11 May 2012. Archived from the original on 18 March 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  29. ^ a b "Global Power City Index 2023". The Mori Memorial Foundation. Archived from the original on 9 November 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  30. ^ Inoue, Yukana (9 November 2023). "Tokyo remains third in global power index despite downturn". The Japan Times. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  31. ^ "The Global Financial Centres Index 35".
  32. ^ "GFCI 34 Rank". Archived from the original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  33. ^ "The Wealth Report 2015". Knight Frank LLP. Archived from the original on 18 June 2015. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  34. ^ "Global Cities Survey" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 March 2015. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  35. ^ "Knight Frank: City Wealth Index". Archived from the original on 20 June 2023. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
  36. ^ "Tokyo world's most talked about city online". Fdiintelligence.com. Archived from the original on 1 February 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  37. ^ "The World's Most Talked About Cities". ING Media - Property PR | Architecture PR | Strategic communications for the BUILT ENVIRONMENT. Archived from the original on 23 December 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
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