2010 Global Cities Index Ranks New York, London, Tokyo and Paris as Top Global Cities

CHICAGO, Oct. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- New York, London, Tokyo and Paris are the world's top global cities according to the 2010 Global Cities Index from global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and Foreign Policy magazine. Since the first Global Cities Index was published in 2008, the world has experienced a financial tsunami, but the top-ranked cities have ridden this wave with much less damage than doomsayers predicted.

Of the top 10 cities in this year's Index, four are Asian cities – Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Seoul. Additionally, Sydney, Australia, an important international connector between East and West, moved from 16th place in the 2008 Index to 9th place in this year's Index.

The increasing adoption of broadband technologies has had a measurable impact on globalization scores, while for major financial centers like New York and London,  the financial crisis has had less of an impact than was initially expected.

The 2010 Global Cities Index is published in the September/October issue of Foreign Policy (wwwforeignpolicy.com) and further analysis of the complete results is available in a paper at www.atkearney.com.  The Global Cities Index ranks 65 cities from around the globe, based on metrics grouped in five categories: business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement. The Global Cities Index is unique in that it goes beyond measures of business and finance, and includes measurements of the key dimensions that define today's global cities.

In reviewing the rankings of the five dimensions of the index it is interesting to note that the leading cities demonstrate different strengths across each of the five dimensions of the index:

About the Global Cities Index

The Global Cities Index ranks cities' metro areas according to 25 metrics across five dimensions.

The first is business activity: including the value of its capital markets, the number of Fortune Global

500 firms headquartered there, and the volume of the goods that pass through the city. The second dimension measures human capital, or how well the city acts as a magnet for diverse groups of people and talent.

This includes the size of a city's immigrant population, the quality of the universities, the number of international schools, and the percentage of residents with university degrees. The third dimension is information exchange—how well news and information is dispersed about and to the rest of the world. The number of international news bureaus, the level of censorship, the amount of international news in the leading local papers, and the broadband subscriber rate round out that dimension. The final two areas of analysis are unusual for most rankings of globalized cities or states. The fourth is cultural experience, or the level of diverse attractions for international residents and travelers. That includes everything from how many major sporting events a city hosts to the number of performing arts venues and diverse culinary establishments it boasts and the sister city relationships it maintains. The final dimension—political engagement—measures the degree to which a city influences global policymaking and dialogue. How? By examining the number of embassies and consulates, major think tanks, international organizations, and political conferences a city hosts.

About A.T. Kearney

A.T. Kearney is a global management consulting firm that uses strategic insight, tailored solutions and a collaborative working style to help clients achieve sustainable results. Since 1926, we have been trusted advisors on CEO-agenda issues to the world's leading corporations across all major industries. A.T. Kearney's offices are located in major business centers in 37 countries. A.T. Kearney is committed to sustainability and is carbon neutral across its global operations. For more information, please visit www.atkearney.com.

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, founded in 1922, is a prominent, independent and nonpartisan organization committed to influencing the discourse on global issues through contributions to opinion and policy formation, leadership dialogue, and public learning. Long known for studies of American public opinion on foreign policy, the Council is expanding its contributions to discussions of critical global issues, including through studies, task force reports, special initiatives, and conferences. Topics of recent reports include U.S. policy on global agricultural development and food security, energy policy reform and Midwest economic competitiveness, and increasing the engagement of Muslim Americans in U.S. civic and political life.

SOURCE A.T. Kearney