In a huge study of 785 cities across the world, researchers from the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) research network, based at º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ and KU Leuven, have classified 335 cities into 12 categories based on how connected they are.

The World According to GaWC 2024 was compiled by investigating the size and function of the offices of major advanced producer services firms (in finance, management consultancy, accountancy, corporate law and advertising) across 785 cities.

Being home to the headquarters of one of the 175 businesses included in the study, such as HSBC, Morgan Stanley, Bank of China, Kearney, Arthur D. Little, Ernst and Young, KPMG, Clifford Chance, Baker McKenzie, Dentsu and BBDO, will also increase a city’s score.

Peter J. Taylor, Emeritus Professor of Geography at º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ, and creator of GaWC, said: “It is always important to understand that cities are immensely complex, they are composed of myriad processes – economic, commercial, social, cultural, political, administrative – in a continually churning mix of private and public interests.

“GaWC has been tracing the development of one specific element of this complexity since 2000: the role of cities in enabling economic globalisation through their provision of advanced business services. This is essential for understanding how our current world is developing economically.”

With a focus on global network connectivity, the classification compares cities based on their concentration of key business services and their role in driving international business, providing a rich framework for understanding global economic dynamics.

The study moves beyond the concept of city rankings and instead offers a city classification that highlights the varying roles cities play in the global economy.

Terms such as “Alpha cities” reflect cities highly integrated within global networks of professional service firms, indicating their critical influence in the world economy.

Cities like London and New York top this classification, with London securing the leading spot, widening its gap over New York in recent years.

The 49 Alpha Cities according to GaWC 2024:

Key findings from comparison with previous years include an increasing gap between London and New York over the past decade, and significant connectivity growth in Chinese and Gulf cities as well as Singapore.

Fast risers in 2024 include Seoul and Jakarta. Every continent is represented in the top Alpha categories, which highlights the interconnected nature of the global economy, while the global geography of connectivity also shows significant inequality in the clustering of major economic activities (see Map).

As well as these alpha cities there are also many other important cities contributing to the servicing of economic globalisation and the research identifies two other groups: 71 ‘beta cities’, and 70 ‘gamma cities’.

Furthermore, there are numerous other cities that are relevant because they have sufficient service capacity to link their local regions into the world city network.

In The World According to GaWC these prime categories are divided further into 12 separate levels of integration into the world city network. Of the 785 cities investigated, 335 were identified as constituting a world city network.

Alpha ++             London and New York are imperative, NY-LON is the core of the global network

Alpha +                8 cities are critically essential

Alpha                   17 cities are very essential

Alpha –                22 cities are essential

Beta +                  20 cities are critically significant

Beta                     23 cities are very significant

Beta –                  28 cities are significant

Gamma +           20 cities are regionally critically important

Gamma              25 cities are regionally very important

Gamma –           25 cities are regionally important

High sufficiency 26 cities are locally very relevant

Sufficiency         119 cities are locally relevant

The World According to GaWC 2024

Michael Hoyler, Professor of Human Geography and Head of Geography and Environment at º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ, said: “GaWC was established at º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ in 1998 and is now one of the most influential research networks in urban studies globally.

“The release of the GaWC 2024 city classification follows hot on the heels of the relaunch of our acclaimed research website, a major platform for investigating the role of cities in corporate globalisation. I am proud of our enduring intellectual and empirical contributions to global urban research and policymaking.”

Ben Derudder, Professor of Urban Studies and Director of the KU Leuven Urban Studies Institute, leading on the data collection in 2024, added: “Our GaWC data offer unique insights into the locational strategies of advanced producer services and their role in linking major cities across the globe.

“The data not only reveal a snapshot of the world city network in 2024, but allow us to trace developments over time, building on our regular data collection for over 20 years.

“I am grateful to colleagues at the Shanghai Institute for Global City, Shanghai Normal University, for supporting us in the 2024 data collection.”

ENDS