Dubai is 27th in world's top cities list

Dubai continues to be the only city from the region to find itself a place in the list of top 50 cities from across the world published by the Foreign Policy magazine.

Dubai is ranked at 27, a position it retains from the 2008 listing while New York, London and Tokyo remain the top three.

The list encompasses a combination of rising and upcoming cities and the “continuing dominance of the great capitals of old-school commerce”.

Five of the world's 10 most global cities are in Asia and the Pacific: Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney, and Seoul, while three - New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles - are American cities. Only two, London and Paris, are European.

“And there's no question which way the momentum is headed: Just as more people will continue to migrate from farms to cities, more global clout will move from West to East,” the magazine said in its analysis.

“And yet, even as we see the dramatic effects of globalization at work in the rise of up-and-coming cities like Bangalore, Sao Paulo, and Shanghai, what's also remarkable is just how dominant the great capitals of old-school commerce remain. New York, London, Tokyo, and Paris are the top four, as they were in the first Global Cities Index two years ago, and they are ahead in most of the criteria that make a truly global city,” it added.

The selection is not based on the size alone. In a note on how the index was put together, the magazine says, “the index aims to measure how much sway a city has over what happens beyond its own borders - its influence on and integration with global markets, culture, and innovation".

Among the other Asian cities in the list are Hong Kong at the fifth place, Singapore at eighth and Beijing at 15. Istanbul is in 21 in the list.

"The 21st century will not be dominated by America or China, Brazil or India, but by the city," said the report released by the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine in collaboration with AT Kearney and The Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Among the other Indian cities New Delhi and Mumbai occupy 45th and 46th position while Kolkata is placed at 63rd spot. Karachi, the only Pakistani metropolis was ranked 60, Dhaka was placed at 64.

The 2010 Global Cities Index is collaboration between Foreign Policy, management consulting firm AT Kearney, and The Chicago Council on Global Affairs. 

For the complete list log on to: https://www.foreignpolicy.com/node/373401