The new Global Cities Index is out – a joint venture of Foreign Policy and A.T. Kearney. New York tops the list, with London in second, then Paris and Tokyo. Toronto comes in 10th overall – scoring fourth in culture and 13th in higher education.
Creative Class
The source on how we live, work and play
October 21st, 2008 at 11:21 am
LOL Toronto 4th cultural city in the world… LOL
Berlin at 14th in politics ??? The capital of the 3rd wealthiest country and a key player in European affairs?
The list confirms the situation 15 years ago. Like the magazine itself, it is last century….
October 26th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
S.A. –
Just notice that 4 of the top 5 cities on this list are also rated in Forbes top 15 most expensive cities in the world (3 of those 4 are actually in the top 6).
While 8 of the top 10 on this list are rated in the top 15 most expensive.
Yet, Forbes’ rating system also seems flawed. While New York is not in the top 15 anymore because of the declined value of the dollar this is of little comfort to someone who actually earns dollars in New York, or average male workers in America, whose wages have remained stagnant since the 1970s (adjusting for inflation). Costs are constantly rising, inflation is occurring, yet wages, across the board are not moving, while the top 5% has accumulated that much more. All the more reason why GDP per capita or any use of mean as the instrument of measure for understanding what’s going on is flawed.
As for Berlin, it seems to me that artists who care about costs-of-living, community/collaboration rather than competition have been migrating there for years.
Berlin, however may not ideal for others, despite it being THE creative center for electronic music, and one could argue a very high portion of innovative music. There are several reasons one can see how this has happened that are directly linked to Florida’s research.
A low-cost of living for such a large city, an ultra-high level of tolerance (compared to American and some European cities), a prime location for accessing gigs around Europe (which is where most musicians earn their livings), combined with super-cheap airfares offered to fly around that continent, as well as a blend of what I sense is Berlin’s collectivist/socialist and capitalist culture, on top of a long history as an innovative center of music, culture, and technology are some key aspects one can point to.
I think this is allowing for the most innovate music to be generated by a community of people, including immigrants, who are dedicated to the artform and make enough to make a living, so that they can focus solely on their trade. In New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, I hardly think that this is as easy of a task, just given the costs associated with living in these cities.
I’ve been waiting for (or hoping to conduct my own) study on Berlin’s electronic music culture right now. There have been more than a few articles written about this in the press, but I’ve yet to see anything substantial from academics (in English) just yet. Part of the problem with social science is it just takes forever to get a study started, that by the time things get underway and we get the results, the conditions may have changed…
Just as you are pointing to regarding this list. In 5 years some of these cities some already know deserve to be there may very well be much higher.
December 3rd, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Even in its downslide NYC is still hands down the greatest city in the world…no place on earth can compare to manhattan..and I dont
care if dubai has the talllest building in the world,all these cities
have tried to copy the New York pattern…but that is just it..NYC is
the prototype,the original..every other city is a clone..!!!