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Revision as of 17:52, 20 March 2011 by פארוק (talk | contribs) (→GaWC studies)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) "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 deemed to be an important node point 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 terminology of "global city", as opposed to megacity, was popularized (not coined or invented) by the sociologist Saskia Sassen in reference to her 1991 work, "The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo" though the term "world city" to describe cities which control a disproportionate amount of global business dates to at least May 1886, to a 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., Kaliningrad, Russia; Thessaloniki, Greece; and Alexandria, Egypt.

Criteria

Global City or world city status is seen as beneficial, 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 producer-service sector of N other cities, then city X is a world city").

Economic characteristics

The New York Stock Exchange

Political characteristics

The Palace of Westminster

Cultural characteristics

The Louvre in Paris

Infrastructural characteristics

Shinkansen

Studies

GaWC studies

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 Taylor, who all worked at that time at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom. Together they 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. This roster generally denotes cities in which there are offices of certain multinational corporations providing financial and consulting services rather than denoting other cultural, political, and economic centres.

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" world city presence.

The 2008 roster of leading Alpha, Beta and Gamma world cities is reproduced below; see the source for the complete roster:

Global Cities Index

In 2008, the American journal Foreign Policy, in conjunction with 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."

In 2010 the index was updated, and the top thirty ranked were:

Rank City Score
1 New York City 6.22
2 London 5.86
3 Tokyo 5.42
4 Paris 5.35
5 Hong Kong 4.14
6 Chicago 3.94
7 Los Angeles 3.90
8 Singapore 3.45
9 Sydney 3.44
10 Seoul 3.40
11 Brussels 3.29
12 San Francisco 3.26
13 Washington, D.C. 3.25
14 Toronto 3.13
15 Beijing 3.12
16 Berlin 3.03
17 Madrid 3.02
18 Vienna 2.96
19 Boston 2.78
20 Frankfurt am Main 2.78
20 Shanghai 2.78
22 Buenos Aires 2.73
23 Stockholm 2.71
24 Zurich 2.68
25 Moscow 2.61
26 Barcelona 2.57
27 Dubai 2.56
28 Rome 2.56
29 Amsterdam 2.54
30 Mexico City 2.41

Global Power City Index

The Institute for Urban Strategies at The Mori Memorial Foundation in Tokyo, Japan issued a comprehensive study of global cities in 2009. The ranking is based on six overall categories, "Economy", "Research & Development", "Cultural Interaction", "Livability", "Ecology & Natural Environment", and "Accessibility", with 69 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 Best category (position)
1 New York City 330.4 Economy (1.) Research & Development (1.)
2 London 322.3 Cultural Interaction (1.)
3 Paris 317.8 Livability (1.) Accessibility (1.)
4 Tokyo 305.6 Economy (2.) Research & Development (2.)
5 Singapore 274.4 Economy (5.) Cultural Interaction (5.)
6 Berlin 259.3 Livability (2.)
7 Vienna 255.1 Ecology & Natural Environment (3.)
8 Amsterdam 250.5 Accessibility (3.)
9 Zurich 242.5 Ecology & Natural Environment (2.)
10 Hong Kong 242.5 Economy (4.)
11 Madrid 242.5 Ecology & Natural Environment (7.) Accessibility (7.)
12 Seoul 242.1 Research & Development (4.)
13 Los Angeles 240.0 Research & Development (5.)
14 Sydney 237.3 Ecology & Natural Environment (9.)
15 Toronto 234.6 Livability (5.)
16 Frankfurt am Main 232.9 Accessibility (5.)
17 Copenhagen 231.7 Economy (9.) Livability (9.)
18 Brussels 229.9 Livability (8.)
19 Geneva 229.7 Ecology & Natural Environment (1.)
20 Boston 226.2 Research & Development(6.)

World City Survey

In 2010 the London based consultant firm Knight Frank LLP together with the Citibank published a survey of world cities. The Wealth Report 2010, which includes the World City Survey, assesses four parameters — economic activity, political power, knowledge and influence and quality of life. The list aimed to rank the world's most influential cities. New York tops the list in Ecomomic activity, political power and knowledge and Paris tops it in quality of life. London and Paris get the same aggregate ranking of 149, making them de facto world's 2nd and 3rd most prominent cities.

Rank City Best category Score
1 New York Economic activity 151
2 London Economic activity 149
3 Paris Quality of life 149
4 Tokyo Economic activity 144
5 Los Angeles Knowledge and influence 122
6 Brussels Political power 121
7 Singapore Economic activity 119
8 Berlin Quality of life 113
9 Beijing Political power 113
10 Toronto Quality of life 112
11 Chicago Knowledge and influence 111
12 Washington, D.C. Political power 111
13 Seoul Economic activity 103
14 Hong Kong Knowledge and influence 96
15 Frankfurt Quality of life 96
16 Sydney Knowledge and influence 92
17 San Francisco Quality of life 90
18 Bangkok Political power 83
19 Shanghai Economic activity 83
20 Zurich Quality of life 79

Cities ranked by category

Parts of this article (those related to the table) need to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (July 2010)
Rank Population of city (proper) Population of metropolitan area Foreign born population Expatriate cost of living Metro systems by annual passenger ridership Metro systems by total route length Annual airport traffic by passenger Number of billionaires (U.S. dollars) Gross Metropolitan Product at total PPPs
1 Mumbai Tokyo Toronto Tokyo Tokyo Shanghai London New York City Tokyo
2 Shanghai Seoul New York City Osaka Moscow London New York City London New York City
3 Karachi Mexico City Hong Kong Moscow Seoul New York City Tokyo Moscow Los Angeles
4 Delhi New York City Los Angeles Geneva New York City Berlin Atlanta Hong Kong Chicago
5 Istanbul Mumbai Miami Hong Kong Paris Seoul Chicago Los Angeles Paris
6 São Paulo Jakarta London Zurich Beijing Tokyo Paris Dallas London
7 Moscow São Paulo Chicago Copenhagen Mexico City Moscow Los Angeles Istanbul Osaka
8 Seoul Delhi Sydney New York City Hong Kong Madrid Dallas San Francisco Mexico City
9 Beijing Osaka San Francisco Beijing Shanghai Beijing Frankfurt Chicago,
Mumbai,
São Paulo,
Tokyo		 Philadelphia
10 Mexico City Shanghai Moscow Singapore London Paris Beijing n/a Washington, D.C.

See also

References

  1. Sassen, Saskia - The global city: strategic site/new frontier
  2. Sassen, Saskia - The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo. (1991) - Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-07063-6
  3. http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/737 UK History
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ GaWC Research Bulletin 5, GaWC, Loughborough University, 28 July 1999
  6. Template:PDFlink, "World Resources 1998-99", WRI, 1998.
  7. Global Urban Indicators Database 2 (1998 data) (data sets in .ZIP), UN-HABITAT
  8. World Indices, Bloomberg
  9. J.V. Beaverstock, World City Networks 'From Below', GaWC, Loughborough University, 29 September 2005
  10. ^ Mercer's 2008 Cost of living highlights, Mercer, 02 June 2009
  11. The World's Billionaires, Forbes, 2008
  12. Template:PDFlink, "2004 Human Development Report" (page 99), UNDP, 2004
  13. Template:PDFlink, "World Resources 1998-99", WRI, 1998
  14. City Profiles, UN
  15. Template:PDFlink, WBCSD
  16. Template:PDFlink, UN, 2004
  17. World-wide quality of living survey, Mercer, 10 April 2006
  18. Template:PDFlink, "THE STATE OF THE WORLD'S CITIES REPORT 2001", UN-HABITAT, 21 June 2006
  19. P. De Groote, Economic and Tourism Aspects of the Olympic Games, GaWC, Loughborough University, 21 September 2005
  20. Template:PDFlink (registration required)
  21. K. O'Connor, International Students and Global Cities, GaWC, Loughborough University, 17 February 2005
  22. World Heritage List, UNESCO
  23. Estimated Ridership of the World’s Largest Public Transit Systems, 1998
  24. Template:PDFlink, October 2003
  25. Traffic Intensity by International Urban Area: 1990
  26. Largest seaports of the world
  27. Mapping the Global Network Economy on the Basis of Air Passenger Transport Flows, GaWC, Loughborough University, 8 December 2004
  28. The World's Best Skylines
  29. "The World According to GaWC 2008". Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) Study Group and Network. Loughborough University. Retrieved 2009-05-07.
  30. "The World According to GaWC 2008 - Graph". Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) Study Group and Network. Loughborough University. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
  31. "The 2008 Global Cities Index". Foreign Policy (November/December 2008). October 21, 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-31. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  32. The Urban Elite: The A.T. Kearney Global Cities Index 2010
  33. 2010 Global Cities Index
  34. ""Global Power City Index 2009"" (PDF). Tokyo, Japan: Institute for Urban Strategies at The Mori Memorial Foundation. October 22, 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-29. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  35. The Wealth Report 2010, Knightfrank.com, 25. March 2010
  36. New York! The Big Apple s the most influential city, PropertyNice, 25. March 2010
  37. "Revealed: Cities that rule the world". CNN. 2010-04-10.
  38. R.L. Forstall, R.P. Greene, and J.B. Pick, "Which are the largest? Why published populations for major world urban areas vary so greatly", City Futures Conference, (University of Illinois at Chicago, July 2004) – Table 5 (p.34)
  39. Global City Migration Map
  40. http://www.aci.aero/aci/aci/file/Press%20Releases/2007_PRs/PR_180707_TOP10.pdf
  41. In Pictures: Top Billionaire Cities, Forbes, 3 June 2009
  42. PriceWaterhouseCoopers, "UK Economic Outlook, March 2007", page 5. ""Table 1.2 – Top 30 urban agglomeration GDP rankings in 2005 and illustrative projections to 2020 (using UN definitions and population estimates)"". Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-06-10. Retrieved 2007-03-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

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