There are obvious metrics to assess when you’re evaluating how green, walkable, cultured and diverse a city is, but how powerful? There’s a little more nuance to that, and readily stepping in to take on the job is the aptly-named Global Power City Index.
Across six categories, urban hubs all over the planet have been evaluated on their ‘magnetism’, which this report defines as their ‘comprehensive power to attract people, capital and enterprises from around the world’.
The 72 metrics assessed fall into these categories, which are economy (GDP per capita, employment levels, wage rate); research and development (number of patents, startups and presence of top universities); cultural interaction (proximity to World Heritage Sites and number of theatres, museums, stadiums and hotel rooms); livability (life expectancy and rent prices); environment (air quality and waste recycle rate); and accessibility (the price of a cab and the number of international flights).
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Topping the list for no less than the 14th consecutive year is London, which scored particularly well in the cultural interaction and accessibility categories, gaining an overall score of 1642.2 out of a possible 2,700.
Within its vicinity, London has six different international airports, plus a sprawling and trusted Underground network and rapidly expanding cycling infrastructure. As for its cultural offering, on top of world-renowned museums and theatre, there’s a shedload of fresh stuff happening across the UK capital – think brand new swanky bakers, rooftop walks, gleaming galleries and a farewell party to an iconic nightclub.
In second place was Tokyo, which surpassed New York for the first time since the index launched, ranking first in the livability category and second in cultural interaction, while the Big Apple floundered into third place largely due to soaring living costs.
These are the top 10 ‘Global Power Cities’
- London
- Tokyo
- New York
- Paris
- Singapore
- Seoul
- Amsterdam
- Shanghai
- Dubai
- Berlin
Here’s the full Global Power City Index report.
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