Cities of the World

The AT Kearney 2012 Global Cities Index is a survey
 done every two year.  The current report tells us  that the top global cities:  New York, London, Paris, Tokyo are the same cities that topped the list in 2010.  However, Brussels and Washington have replaced Sydney and Singapore in the top ten group. (www.atkearney.com/gbpc/global-cities-index) 

The index ranks 66 countries across five dimensions:  business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience and political engagement.  While this is interesting, I was more intrigued by the work of Sadkia Sassen of Columbia University that was included in the survey.  She identified “urban vectors”, linkages between cities that will be important in the coming decade.

It’s easy to image that Washington, New York and Chicago or that Istanbul and Ankara, Berlin and Frankfurt will be significant for the European Union.  But would we think of Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi as “making a global commons” in the years to come - a linkage that she predicts will be influential. 

It makes me think that today's question isn’t where does your city rank but rather what cities does your home place link to?  And what differences will those connections make for the world in the years to come?