World Cities Ranking

World cities are urban areas with an important role in the global economic system. They have some of the following characteristics: A variety of international financial services, notably in finance, insurance, real estate, banking, accountancy, and marketing. Headquarters of several multinational corporations.

World cities are primary, while Global ones are secondary forming of world cities is caused by historical and geographical factors as well as by development of trade as global cities due to innovations, technologies and strengthening of financial relations.

A global city 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.

Global city rankings are numerous. Every few years, the “Globalization & World Rankings Research Institute”; and the “Globalization and World Cities Research Network”, “Global Cities Index”, and “Global Power City Index”, among other, rank important global economic cities. Cities are categorized as Alpha, Beta or Gamma cities based on their connectivity to the rest of the world. Many factors are taken into account in this analysis, including cultural and political influence, although economic factors are the most important consideration.

Alpha cities are the primary nodes in the global cities economic network, while Beta and Gamma cities are smaller global cities that link economic regions into the global network.

Alpha level cities are linked to major economic states/regions and highly integrated into the world economy. Alpha level cities are classified into four sections: Alpha (++) cities are the most integrated with the global economy; Alpha (+) are "other highly integrated cities that complement London and New York, largely filling in advanced service needs for the Pacific/Asia"; Alpha, and Alpha (-) cities are meanwhile world cities that link major economic regions and states into the world economy.

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

Gamma level cities are cities that link smaller economic regions into the world economy and are classified into three sections, Gamma (+), Gamma, and Gamma (-) cities.

Sufficiency level cities are cities that have a sufficient degree of services so as not to be overly dependent on world cities. This is sorted into High Sufficiency cities and Sufficiency cities.

In off the charts rankings, London has been declared the best city in the world for 2023 by real estate and tourism consultancy, “Resonance”. Having been measured against 100 other destinations around the globe, London placed first for the seventh year running. Close to follow is Paris in second place, taking the crown as the world's most powerful city destination, and New York in third, as the world’s greatest city…

Food for thought!