Powerful Global Cities - Alpha, Beta, Gamma Rated Cities Of The World Explained.

[♥ Lily ♥]

'London sits in a very privileged geographical position for the current world economy. In terms of timezones it just so happens that the London working day overlaps with both the US working day and the Asian working day. So a financial trader in London can be talking to his counterpart in Tokyo when he first gets in, and his counterpart in New York just before he leaves work.

The above is also true of other cities in western Europe, but London also has the advantage of being in an English-speaking country, and English is still the primary language used by most international organisations, especially those involved in finance, science, or technology.

The UK itself is perceived as a very stable country to do business. Unlike most other countries in Europe, there hasn't been even an attempted coup or revolution in the UK for well over 300 years. The perceived political and economic stability, and its implications for rule of law, is very important for global businesses.

Lastly, London has a very open and liberal immigration policy (nearly 40% of the city's population were born outside the UK) which means companies based there can try to attract the best talent from anywhere round the world.'

https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlike...ording_to_the/

[♥ Lily ♥]

I'd like to point out that it's not just money which makes a city Alpha++ but many other factors to take into consideration too.

[Tietar]

The Madrid urban agglomeration has the third-largest GDP in the European Union and its influences in politics, education, entertainment, environment, media, fashion, science, culture, and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities.

Due to its economic output, high standard of living, and market size, Madrid is considered the major financial centre of Southern Europe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madrid

this reflects it better

[Westbrook]

I'm legit curious how a city like Atlanta is completely absent while even cities such as Baltimore, Milwaukee, St Louis, Detroit, etc are included. That fascinates me.

As for the rest:

Alpha + cities are advanced service niches for the global economy: Singapore, Hong Kong, Paris, Beijing, Tokyo, Shanghai, Dubai

Alpha level cities (sorted in to Alpha cities and Alpha- cities) are cities that link major economic regions into the world economy:

Alpha cities: Sydney, São Paulo, Milan, Chicago, Mexico City, Mumbai, Moscow, Frankfurt, Warsaw, Johannesburg, Madrid, Toronto, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Istanbul, Jakarta, Amsterdam, Brussels, Los Angeles

Alpha- cities: Dublin, Melbourne, Washington, New Delhi, Bangkok, Zurich, Vienna, Taipei, Buenos Aires, Stockholm, San Francisco, Guangzhou, Manila, Bogotá, Miami, Riyadh, Luxembourg, Santiago, Barcelona, Tel Aviv, Lisbon

Beta level cities are cities that link moderate economic regions into the world economy and are classified into three sections, Beta + cities, Beta cities, and Beta- cities:

Beta + cities: Bangalore, Copenhagen, Rome, Cairo, Dallas, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Athens, Montreal, Philadelphia, Lima, Budapest, Berlin, Cape Town, Houston, Kiev, Bucharest, Beirut

Beta cities: Ho Chi Minh City, Auckland, Montevideo, Caracas, Vancouver, Chennai, Manchester, Oslo, Brisbane, Helsinki, Karachi, Doha, Casablanca, Stuttgart, Rio de Janeiro, Geneva

Beta- cities: Guatemala City, Lyon, Panama City, San Jose, Bratislava, Minneapolis, Tunis, Nairobi, Cleveland, Lagos, Abu Dhabi, Seattle, Hanoi, Sofia, Riga, Port Louis, Detroit, Calgary, Denver, Perth, Kolkata, San Diego, Amman, Antwerp, Manama, Birmingham, Nicosia, Quito, Rotterdam, Belgrade, Monterrey, Almaty, Shenzhen, Kuwait City, Hyderabad, Edinburgh

Gamma level cities are cities that link smaller economic regions into the world economy, and are sorted into three sections, Gamma + cities, Gamma cities, and Gamma- cities:

Gamma + cities: Zagreb, Lahore, Saint Petersburg, Jeddah, Durban, Santo Domingo, St. Louis, Islamabad, Guayaquil, Baltimore, San Salvador, Cologne, Phoenix, Adelaide, Bristol, Charlotte, Georgetown, Osaka, Tampa

Gamma cities: Glasgow, San Juan, Marseille, Guadalajara, Leeds, Baku, Vilnius, Tallinn, Raleigh, Ankara, Belfast, San José, Colombo, Valencia, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Muscat, Ljubljana

Gamma- cities: Nantes, Tianjin, Accra, Algiers, Gothenburg, Porto, Columbus, Utrecht, Orlando, Ahmedabad, Asunción, Kansas City, Seville, Turin, Dar es Salaam, Portland, Kraków, Managua, Pune, Leipzig, Malmö, La Paz

Sufficiency level cities are cities that have a sufficient degree of services so as not to be obviously dependent on world cities. Examples are Jerusalem and Harare.

Global Power City Index

The Institute for Urban Strategies at The Mori Memorial Foundation in Tokyo issued a comprehensive study of global cities in 2016. 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".

Global Power City top 10: 1. London, 2. New York City, 3. Tokyo, 4. Paris, 5. Singapore, 6. Seoul, 7. Hong Kong, 8. Amsterdam, 9. Berlin, 10. Vienna

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 is based on 27 metrics across five dimensions: business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement and was updated in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016. Since 2015 it is published together with the Global Cities Outlook, 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.

Global Economic Power Index

In 2015, the second Global Economic Power Index, a "survey of the surveys" compiled 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 5 separate lists as published by 5 different entities.

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 Cities Survey", evaluating which cities are considered the most important to the world’s HNWIs (high-net-worth individuals, having over $25 million of investable assets). For the Global Cities 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".

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.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_city

[hypergiant]

London 'greenest city' in Europe

London is the greenest major city in Europe and the third greenest city of its size in the world, according to a report commissioned by the City of London Corporation. The capital contains 35,000 acres of public parks, woodlands and gardens, which means that 40% of its surface area is made up of publicly accessible green space.

https://www.edie.net/news/6/London--...y--in-Europe-/