Rankings: Top 25 global cities of 2011
The dominance of Western cities is being challenged by up-and-coming centers in Brazil, Russia, India and China, according to a new study.
The Knight Frank Global Cities Survey, published by Citi Private Bank, monitors "city-level power shifts" by assessing global markets for investment opportunities and influence on business leaders worldwide.
This year’s survey, the fourth, shows major movement in the study's "Economic Activity" category, with 14 cities slipping down the rankings and 16 rising up.
Author Liam Bailey writes:
The ongoing West-to-East shift in economic might is highlighted by the fact that eight of the 13 jumps in this area were by Asian cities, led by Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur. But the West is not without its successes. Munich’s rise in this category points to the new confidence in Germany – its star has been rising strongly during the Euro crisis.
In the "Political Power" category, North America dominates, with San Francisco and Toronto leading the charge (but a strong showing from Singapore nonetheless). Meanwhile, "Quality of Life" boosts in Sydney, Zurich and even London demonstrate positive infrastructure investment.
But most interesting is the survey's "Knowledge and Influence" ranking, with significant volatility. Bailey writes that it may be "an indication of the level of competition between cities that are seeking to exert power through investment in knowledge industries," including Boston, Munich, Milan, Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro. (New York and London remain tops, however.)
Here's the list of the top 25 global cities, according to the Citi index:
- New York
- London
- Paris
- Tokyo
- Brussels
- Los Angeles
- Singapore
- Beijing
- Toronto
- Berlin
- Chicago
- Washington, D.C.
- Seoul
- Frankfurt
- Sydney
- San Francisco
- Hong Kong
- Shanghai
- Mexico City
- Bangkok
- Moscow
- Zurich
- Munich
- Taipei
- Sao Paulo
The rest, in descending order: Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Milan, Boston, Miami, Cairo, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Tel Aviv, Bogota, Rio de Janeiro, New Delhi, Mumbai, Jakarta and Johannesburg.
The survey also offered Top 10 breakouts of each category.
Economic Activity
- New York
- London
- Tokyo
- Paris
- Shanghai
- Singapore
- Hong Kong
- Seoul
- Beijing
- Los Angeles
How it's measured: output, income per head, financial and capital market activity, market share, number of international corporate headquarters.
Political Power
- Washington, D.C.
- New York
- Brussels
- Beijing
- London
- Paris
- Tokyo
- Cairo
- Istanbul
- Mexico City
How it's measured: number of NGO and political organization headquarters, embassies and think tanks.
Quality of Life
- Paris
- Berlin
- Toronto
- Frankfurt
- London
- Zurich
- Tokyo
- Munich
- New York
- Los Angeles
How it's measured: assessing personal and political freedom, censorship, personal security, crime, political stability, health facilities, public services and transport, culture and liesure, climate, quality of environment.
Knowledge and Influence
- New York
- London
- Tokyo
- Paris
- Hong Kong
- Chicago
- Los Angeles
- Singapore
- Sydney
- Washington D.C.
How it's measured: number and ranking of educational facilities, number of news media organizations, international market share of media.
The survey was full of different rankings, so I broke them up into separate posts for your perusal:
- Top 20 global cities of 2020, predicted
- Top 10 cities for entrepreneurs
- Top 10 cities for hedonists
- Top 10 cities for romantics
- Top 10 up-and-coming cities of 2011
Bailey sums up Knight Frank's findings thusly: "Tried-and-tested markets with security of infrastructure and political and legal stability will outperform in the longterm. No market is immune from a crisis, but these tend to have a depth of demand that creates a true liquid investment."
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com