# World Cities Ranking top 10



## MSPSCO3113 (Apr 28, 2005)

I'll give it a shot:
1) New York
2) Tokyo
3) London
4) Paris
5) Hong Kong
6) Washington DC
7) Singapore
8) Frankfurt
9) Bangkok
10) Seoul

Perfect.


----------



## CHANEL (Aug 22, 2005)

london-b said:


> ^^Grow up and change the record, it's so boring, it's all you ever say hno:


THAT'S THE SECOND TIME I'VE SAID THAT. NO I AM GOING TO CHANGE MY RECORD WHAT IS TRUE IS TRUE. JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE LONDONER YOU THINK LONDON IS GREAT GET OUT OF LONDON AND YOU WILL SEE WHAT I MEAN.


----------



## Pkiritha (Jan 11, 2005)

New York
Tokyo
London
Hong Kong
Paris
Chicago
Los Angeles
Frankfurt
Singapore
Toronto/Sydney/Milan


----------



## Pkiritha (Jan 11, 2005)

^^ lol well atleast everyones top 5 are about the same.


----------



## london-b (Jul 31, 2004)

CHANEL said:


> THAT'S THE SECOND TIME I'VE SAID THAT. NO I AM GOING TO CHANGE MY RECORD WHAT IS TRUE IS TRUE. JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE LONDONER YOU THINK LONDON IS GREAT GET OUT OF LONDON AND YOU WILL SEE WHAT I MEAN.


Um, think that little statement has backfired, as I'm not a Londoner and don't currently live in London hno: ps, LOVING THE CAPITALS.


----------



## _00_deathscar (Mar 16, 2005)

Why do most people rank Paris above Hong Kong?


----------



## Azn_chi_boi (Mar 11, 2005)

unoh said:


> Scale + Infrastructure + Buildings, Hardware + Contents + Economy + Political importance + Commerce + globalization + Mass media(domestic, international) + Name value + Companies HQ + etc
> 
> in my opinon,
> 
> ...


Most def. do... but maybe singapore or Seoul somewhere in the top 10?


----------



## wjfox (Nov 1, 2002)

^ Singapore yes, but not Seoul.


----------



## Iwano (Aug 29, 2005)

*what the...*

Hey guys, as my first statement at this forum I must say that I´m totally stunned by your list.
1. The big money issue: "Skyline", Companies, Economic power etc is by far overrepresented!
You should stress other aspects like culture, living quality, architecture, originality etc much, much more then you did!
2. To post Frankfurt on a world 10 list in front of every other German city makes me just :bash: :eek2: :runaway: 
It´s a big pot of commerce with an big airport an important stock exchange and some nice skyscrapers. Nothing less, nothing more...
Ok, i recognised that most of the time you´re thinking about much, more, most, big, taller, biggest skyscrapers when you´re posting the word "skyline". 
Are you serious? Do you want to say that the skyline of Honkong is really more interesting than that of Paris with the tour eiffel, sacre coeur, notre Dame, Pantheon...? It´s not just the amount of storeys which makes a "skyline".
So my list (scale, economy, political power, cosmopolition flair, "skyline" ;-), setting, architecture, culture, History not to forget!:
Of course subjective in selecting and stressing several features...

1.London
2.New York
there must be a gap I think
3.Paris 
4.Rome (due to History, Culture, Architecture, Vatican)
5.Tokyo
6.Honkong 
perhaps another gap...
7.Berlin (Yes, never Frankfurt, what an idea!)
8.Rio de Jainero (the setting, the setting)
9.Beijing
10.Moscow

perhaps (!)
11.Bruessels (Politics) 

thinking about:
L.A.
Istambul
Sidney
Toronto
Jerusalem (Just think about the history: Holy city of three important religions)
St. Petersburg
Seoul
Mexico City
Sao Paulo
Oxford (Just take the IQs ;-))
Jakarta
Madrid
New Dehli
Mumbay
Munich (why the hell after Milan?)
Bounes Aires
Washington (just for politics, but...)
...
...
...
Wanne-Eickel :runaway: 
...
...
...what was the capital of North Corea? lol

and just ceep clean of Milan and Frankfurt on a world top 10 list, ok ;-)


----------



## pottebaum (Sep 11, 2004)

I imagine most people's top three would be New York, London, and Tokyo. Here's how I might break it down:

Finance: New York +/-London--Like Nick-Taylor has said, just because the mainstream media doesn't pay much attention to London's markets, they're still very important. I'd still give New York the edge, though.

Business: New York. I think it has been said before that Tokyo is home to more Forbes 2000 companies than New York, but NY is more important to world-commerce. It could also be argued that the combined assets of its largest companies are far larger than Tokyo's. Thousands of companies that employ _millions_ of people are listed on its stock-exchanges, and it is the economic capital of a nation that is home to 711 of the world's two thousand largest companies. Japan, in comparison, has 336--making it #2 world-wide.

NYC is also home to the world's 3 largest companies; Citigroup, General Electric, and American International. 

Global command center(government): Of the three cities I've brought up already (Tokyo, NY, and London), I'd give it to Tokyo; being the political capital of the world's 2nd largest economy and spending almost 45 billion on its military each year (UK: 32bn[2003], US: 466bn[2004]). I'm no expert on this, though. New York is home to the UN and London is the capital of the UK; argue it anyway you'd like.

Cultural influence: New York, but London has made massive contributions over the course of history. And it still does today, along with Tokyo.

Sporting: Ah, sports. Seems a bit off-the-wall compared the other factors we've put into consideration, but London hands down. Absolutely.


----------



## Zaki (Apr 16, 2005)

Preety much agree, accept a few minor changes

1 New York
2 Tokyo
3 London
4 Paris
5 HongKong
6 Chicago
7 Singapore
8 LA
9 Seoul
10 Toronto


----------



## Mo Rush (Nov 13, 2004)

WORLD'S BEST Cities
Readers name Sydney and Bali the world's top city and island once again this year—for the eighth and fourth time, respectively. Several destinations have their best World's Best performance ever, including Prague; Chiang Mai, Thailand; Hobart, Tasmania; and Easter Island, Chile. And kudos to our sole first-time winner: Harbour Island, in the Bahamas.

Top 10 Overall
Rank Last Year Name 2005
Score
1	1	Sydney	88.30
2	4	Bangkok	87.08
3	2	Rome	86.26
4	3	Florence	86.20
5	n/a	Chiang Mai, Thailand	84.93
6	6	New York	84.82
7	8	Istanbul	84.78
8	5	Cape Town	84.51
9	7	Oaxaca, Mexico	84.41
10	n/a	San Francisco	N/A


----------



## fatkid1 (Apr 30, 2005)

wjfox2002 said:


> ^ Singapore yes, but not Seoul.


Why not Seoul? IMHO its far more important than Singapore. My ranking would be like this.

1 New York
2 Tokyo
3 London
4 Paris
5 HongKong
6 Chicago
7 Seoul
8 L.A
9 Singapore
10 Toronto


----------



## Butcher (Dec 13, 2004)

I would move London to #1 along with New York city, Tokyo as third, and Frankfurt instead of Berlin.


----------



## Iwano (Aug 29, 2005)

*Why?*

why frankfurt? I can´t get along with this...


----------



## Dino Domingo (Jan 5, 2005)

Surely, the top ten list should include one city from each of the G8 countries, plus two other honourable mentions. The richest countries in the world each have at least ONE city that is world class and that is representative of the definition of such. 

Here's my list:

1. New York
2. London
3. Paris
4. Rome
5. Toronto
6. Tokyo
7. Berlin
8. Moscow
9. Hong Kong
10. Sydney


----------



## A42251 (Sep 13, 2004)

^WTF is up with Rome & Toronto above Tokyo?


----------



## Beacon (Mar 14, 2005)

Dino Domingo said:


> Surely, the top ten list should include one city from each of the G8 countries, plus two other honourable mentions. The richest countries in the world each have at least ONE city that is world class and that is representative of the definition of such.
> 
> Here's my list:
> 
> ...


I'm not so sure. Most of the factors offered for consideration are economic, and while this obviously contributes to standard of living and quality of life, it's not the only determinant of importance.

I would rate Beijing/Shanghai, and Mumbai/New Delhi as contenders, simply because of their influence over half the world's population. Not mention being bastions of two of the oldest civilisations in the world. Over the next ten to twenty years they will become vastly more influential and that's why the people in New York and London, who are so obsessed with economics, are trying desperately to get a foothold there. Throw in their current populations, and huge growth rates, and I think they are worthy of the list.

Certainly, they should replace cities like Sydney and Toronto, which are well-developed and relatively important, but completely overshadowed by other cities in close proximity - Sydney vs Singapore/HongKong, Toronto vs Chicago/New York. Still, it's all just opinion.


----------



## micro (Mar 13, 2005)

Mo Rush said:


> WORLD'S BEST Cities
> Readers name Sydney and Bali the world's top city and island once again this year—


Maybe you're talking about tourist destinations?


----------



## desiguy8179 (Jul 6, 2005)

1 zurich
2 auckland
3 victoria,BC
4 quebec city
5.Niagara-on-the lake
6.san diego
7.melbourne
8.Goa
9.toronto
10.Aspen,colorado


----------



## neilio (Jan 12, 2005)

im having trouble understanding anyone who seriously puts Frankfurt, Houston or Sydney in front of Toronto....


----------



## _00_deathscar (Mar 16, 2005)

And I still don't know why Paris is above Hong Kong?


----------



## nick_taylor (Mar 7, 2003)

pottebaum said:


> I imagine most people's top three would be New York, London, and Tokyo. Here's how I might break it down:
> 
> Finance: New York +/-London--Like Nick-Taylor has said, just because the mainstream media doesn't pay much attention to London's markets, they're still very important. I'd still give New York the edge, though.
> 
> ...


Of course you would say that New York is larger (even though it leads in less markets and employs less people) than London!

Tokyo has by far the largest number of Forbes 2000 companies in the world, just because it doesn't have many in the top 10 (London has 2 and a third with Shell + The Hague in the Netherlands), it doesn't mean that somehow it is not important.

Also while Tokyo is the home to the 2nd largest economy its very insular compared to say Paris, London or Washington in terms of external influences and actions. Both are still far more politically important than New York (I would put Paris ahead of New York even in terms of politics also) which is home to various consulates and not embassy's and the UN which is mearly a forum with no sovereignty over the sovereignty of London, Paris, Tokyo or even Washington.

In terms of *Business*:
1 Tokyo (3)
2 New York (2)
3 London (1)

*Finance*
1 - London (3)
2 - New York (2)
3 - Tokyo (1)

*Politics*
1 - London (3)
2 - Tokyo (2)
3 - New York (1)

London - 7
Tokyo - 6
New York - 5

Bring in cultural and other factors and I'd still have London at the top, but bringing New York up to 2nd with Tokyo being third. Then there is a gap, then Paris and then another gap then the likes of Hong Kong, Seoul, Frankfurt, Singapore, Madrid, Rome, Sydney, etc....


----------



## HOI (Aug 13, 2005)

Mine would be:-

1- New York/London
2- ---
3- Tokyo
4- Hong Kong
5- Washington
6- Singapore
7- Paris
8- Rome
9- Toronto
10- Frankfurt


----------



## Küsel (Sep 16, 2004)

The first three must be NYC, Tokyo and London, then (not ranked):
- Paris (second city in economical and cultural importance in Europe)
- Sao Paulo (absolute center of South American economy, especially banking and industry)
- Hong Kong (main harbor and "interface" between the west and east, as well as second skyscraper city in the world)
- Los Angeles (entertainment capital, second most important economical city in NA)
- Shanghai (the Chicago of the 21st century, boomtown, economical center of the world's biggest nation in population)

Furthermore for ranks 9 and 10 would be the following candidates (in economical terms) Mexico City, Frankfurt, Osaka, Singapore, Mumbai, Moscow. 

It's not possible to really rank cities - especially not based on one or two factors, but more:
- historical context and political/economical influence for the world and the region
- cultural importance for the world and the region
- economical connections to other world cities
- education and research
- transport (especially air connection to other world cities)
- tourism (leisure and business)
- future potential in economical growth and social welfare


----------



## ♣628.finst (Jul 29, 2005)

Kuesel said:


> It's not possible to really rank cities - especially not based on one or two factors, but more:
> - historical context and political/economical influence for the world and the region
> - cultural importance for the world and the region
> - economical connections to other world cities
> ...


Historical context? Who cares about its history? Are you Historian? Oh, I understand geographers are actually close to historians.

Education and Research??? You Zurich did really much of it, as well as Bern, Geneva in your country. Vienna, Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen or Helsinki are not bad either. Even Toronto did really well, as well as the best of all: BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

Minneapolis and Chicago are also very educated, consider many experts live there.

Transport? Definitely Atlanta, Chicago, NYC, London or DC... but I don't like their lifestyle and atmosphere

Tourism is destroying our beautiful nature--- As a geographer, you should understand this fairly well..

---------

BTW, other points are very good for ranking cities. Well done, Kuesel!
But... World cities is limited...


----------



## nick_taylor (Mar 7, 2003)

What Kuesel is most likely trying to say is that historical links act as a process in creating world cities. London for instance still shares linkages and connections with its former colonies, eg Singapore, Hong Kong (2 of the 3 banks that print Hong Kong's money are London HQ'ed banks, most of the assets in Hong Kong have traces back to London), Dubai, etc....

Having history means you have links and in todays world these links help to create wealth and power. The important word here is simply: *links*. The more links, the more 'global' the city is.


----------



## JDRS (Feb 8, 2004)

samsonyuen said:


> wjfox, I agree with your list.
> 
> 1. New York / London (tied)
> 2. -
> ...


I would agree with that list. :yes:


----------



## ZOHAR (Jul 16, 2005)

Panamaniac said:


> In South Korea. Just kidding, I know what you meant...
> 
> My top 10
> 
> ...


Tel Aviv cant be in this list!!!!(near Baghdad????)


----------



## crazyeight (Dec 18, 2004)

Zohar, maybe you should read what he said at the end


----------



## Iwano (Aug 29, 2005)

*eehhh*



xantarcx said:


> Historical context? Who cares about its history? Are you Historian? Oh, I understand geographers are actually close to historians.


 :eek2: Are you joking, man?
If you don´t appreciate and take into reference the historical context of a city and the buildings, attractions in it (perhaps without thinking of it) you can´t understand one single famous city! 
Who would care about the Statue of Liberty if he doesn´t know what this funny thing stands for? There are much bigger and more beautiful monuments on this planet, so...
just an example...
think of it.


----------



## pottebaum (Sep 11, 2004)

Nick-taylor said:


> Tokyo has by far the largest number of Forbes 2000 companies in the world, just because it doesn't have many in the top 10 (London has 2 and a third with Shell + The Hague in the Netherlands), it doesn't mean that somehow it is not important.


I never claimed Tokyo wasn't important in regards to business--just not to the extent of New York. Look not only at the number of headquarters, but at the amount of assets and linkage to outside corporations. 
While I haven't actually done the math, I can make a pretty educated guess that the Forbes 2000 companies based in NYC have combined assets far outweighing those of Tokyo(and London).
Here's the top 30 largest companies in the world; 19 of them are American and 8 of them are located in New York--as compared to 5 British/4 London, and 1 Japanese/0 Tokyo.








Also, the city's massive stock exchanges (NYSE, Nasdaq, Amex), which also play into finance, have (by far) the world's largest combined market capitalization. Thousands of large companies that employ _millions_ of people are listed on these exchanges.

New York also has a very large variety of companies, and benefits from the strength of the American economy. 35% of the world's 2000 largest companies are headquartered here. 

Within New York, there is:
-the world's largest bank (Citigroup)
-the world's largest conglomerate, [GE] (appliances, technology, media, etc)
-the world's largest drug company (Pfizer)
-the world's largest technology hardware company(IBM)
-the world's third largest PC-maker (Lenovo)
-the world's largest telecommunications company (Verizon)
-the world's largest media company
-the world's largest record label
-the world's second largest record label

etc, etc....

Cultural influence...it's New York.

I gotta go--Talk to you later!


----------



## nick_taylor (Mar 7, 2003)

35% of the Forbes 2,000 companies are in the US, 16% in Japan and 7% in the UK. I don't think you understand that there are other companies in the world that although not the largest or #1 are numerous. Do a Fortune/Forbes search and you'll find Tokyo is a recurring name. Also I never ranked London higher than New York or Tokyo in terms of business - my previous post testifies to that.

Also stop harking on about stock markets being the beginning and end of the financial sector - that is not the case and you must realise this by now! That said countries operate via the currency markets - ie representing populations of ten's, hundred's of millions of people. I have afterall proved now on numerous occasions the fact that New York doesn't lead across the board in finance and that more people are now employed in finance in London than in New York and that the pay is higher. If New York has cultural influence, London has political and global influence.


----------



## ChinaboyUSA (May 10, 2005)

nick-taylor said:


> What Kuesel is most likely trying to say is that historical links act as a process in creating world cities. London for instance still shares linkages and connections with its former colonies, eg Singapore, Hong Kong (2 of the 3 banks that print Hong Kong's money are London HQ'ed banks, most of the assets in Hong Kong have traces back to London), Dubai, etc....
> 
> Having history means you have links and in todays world these links help to create wealth and power. The important word here is simply: *links*. The more links, the more 'global' the city is.


What you mean links?
What did British do when they left Hong Kong? Vampires

Get out of your British historic dreams, Chinese people have more history than you.


----------



## goajs (Aug 31, 2005)

i disagree ... i think you are american.

for starters - you say political - what about brussels ?
chicago is not globally important politically or culturally
Berlin is ugly, still under reconstruction and not the main german financial hub

i think a better list would probably be something more akin to

1. New York
2. Tokyo
3. London
4. Paris
5. Shanghai
6. Mexico City
7. Moscow
8. Rome
9. Los Angeles
10. Sydney

Also - even though I have placed New York as number 1 due being probably the single most important financial and political (UN) centre I have afew things to say about New York with regard to how it scores in all other aspects of city quality. 

a) New York city is unnattractive (despite being awe-inspiring - it is ugly)
b) New York city is dull - purely functional, completely un-romantic
c) New York city is, compared to other great cities culturally mediocre (compare it to London, Rome, Paris and it falls hopelessly short)
d) New York city doesn't even rank on the fashion / cutting edge list. For clothing Paris Milan and Tokyo all trump it, for art Europe kills it dead in the water, for modern design East Asia comes up tops, it isn't a musical centre, it isn't really a cinematic centre (apart from being used for sets), and as far as cutting edge restaurants, galleries go, London and Tokyo kick it's ass. 
e) New York is an unpleaseant place to live, with a quality of living way below other European cities, even in much poorer regions.
f) Also, even though New York may be a political cornerstone, it is also a cornerstone of anti-politics. Anti-americanism, Anti-globalisation, Anti-war, etc, etc, etc - New York is pretty much a hate symbol by alot of groups not only abroad, but within the US as well. 

Sorry about that rant - but i just wanted to put across my feelings on NYC - and that it isn't what it's made out to be.


----------



## ChinaboyUSA (May 10, 2005)

pottebaum said:


> ...
> New York also has a very large variety of companies, and benefits from the strength of the American economy. 35% of the world's 2000 largest companies are headquartered here.
> 
> Within New York, there is:
> ...


Lenovo has 2 HQs, one is in Beijing!


----------



## JayT (Sep 11, 2002)

My Pics

1 - LONDON - Worlds largest financial centre, center for fashion, popular culture and biggest international air hub and World tourism destination. Centre of English Language. Major historical center.

2 - NEW YORK - American financial centre, centre for american fashion and north american hub.

3 - LOS ANGELES - Western World hub for popular culture, music and american capitalist ideals.

4 - PARIS - European cultural centre and hub for design, culture and popular fashion, World tourism destination. Major historical center too.

5 - TOKYO - Asian financial centre and worlds largest city, hub for everything Japanese including Japanese culture and finance.

6 - HONG KONG - financial hub of South Asia and China, world tourism destination and capitalist mecca.

7 - MUMBAI - hub of Indian Culture and finance for nearly 1 billion people

Thats all I can think of.


----------



## JayT (Sep 11, 2002)

neilio said:


> im having trouble understanding anyone who seriously puts Frankfurt, Houston or Sydney in front of Toronto....


Where is Toronto again - any pictures?


----------



## bennyboiler (Jul 22, 2003)

"im having trouble understanding anyone who seriously puts Frankfurt, Houston or Sydney in front of Toronto...."

I'll have a stab in the dark and say thats because you are from Toronto.


----------



## Jaye101 (Feb 16, 2005)

The world is full of dumbasses who put Frankfurt, Houston (Why is it even on the list), and Sydney infront of Toronto. People who put Toronto and Rome above Tokyo. People who don't know where Toronto is. 

*Sigh* GET HELP! GET HELP! If you fall under these catagories see a doctor IMMEDIATELY.


----------

