Globalization and World Cities Research Network

Globalization and World Cities Research Network
The Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) is a think tank that studies the relationships between world cities in the context of globalization. It is based in the geography department of Loughborough University in Leicestershire, United Kingdom. GaWC was founded by Peter J. Taylor in 1998. Together with Jon Beaverstock and Richard G. Smith, they create the GaWC's biennial categorization of world cities into "Alpha", "Beta" and "Gamma" tiers, based upon their international connectedness.
GaWC city classification
The GaWC examines cities worldwide to narrow them down to a roster of world cities, then ranks these based on their connectivity through four "advanced producer services": accountancy, advertising, banking/finance, and law. The GaWC inventory ranks city economics more heavily than political or cultural factors. Beyond the categories of "Alpha" world cities (with four sub-categories), "Beta" world cities (three sub-categories), and "Gamma" world cities (three sub-categories), the GaWC cities include additional cities at "High sufficiency" and "Sufficiency" level.
GaWC published city classifications in 1998, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2016, 2018 and 2020. The 2004 rankings added several new indicators while continuing to rank city economics more heavily than political or cultural factors. The 2008 roster, similar to the 1998 version, is sorted into categories of Alpha world cities (with four sub-categories), Beta world cities (three sub-categories), Gamma world cities (three sub-categories), and additional cities with High sufficiency or Sufficiency presence. The list has been prone to change in the ranks. For example, some cities that were selected prior to 2018, such as the United States cities of Greensboro and Providence. are no longer classified as sufficient level.
2020 city classification
The classification "results are derived from the activities of 175 leading firms providing advanced producer services across 707 cities worldwide (i.e. the input is 175 x 707 = 123,725 pieces of information). The results should be interpreted as indicating the importance of cities as nodes in the world city network (i.e. enabling corporate globalization)." The cities in the 2020 classification are as follows.
(1) or (1) indicates a city moved one category up or down since the 2018 classification.
Alpha
Alpha level cities are linked to major economic states/regions and highly integrated into the world economy. Alpha level cities are classified into four sections: Alpha ++, Alpha +, Alpha, and Alpha − cities.
Alpha ++
Alpha ++ cities are cities most integrated with the global economy:
London
New York City
Alpha +
Alpha + are "other highly integrated cities that complement London and New York, largely filling in advanced service needs for the Pacific/Asia [region]":
Beijing
Dubai
Hong Kong
Paris
Shanghai
Singapore
Tokyo
Alpha
Amsterdam (1)
Brussels
Chicago
Frankfurt
Jakarta
Kuala Lumpur
Los Angeles
Madrid
Mexico City
Milan
Moscow
Mumbai
São Paulo
Sydney (1)
Toronto
Alpha −
Bangkok (1)
Bangalore (1)
Boston (1)
Buenos Aires (1)
Dublin
Guangzhou (1)
Istanbul (1)
Johannesburg
Lisbon
Luxembourg City
Manila
Melbourne (1)
Montreal
Munich
New Delhi
Prague
Riyadh
San Francisco
Santiago
Seoul (1)
Shenzhen
Stockholm
Taipei (1)
Vienna
Warsaw (1)
Zürich (1)
Beta
Beta level cities are cities that link moderate economic regions to the world economy and are classified into three sections, Beta +, Beta, and Beta − cities.
Beta +
Atlanta
Auckland
Barcelona (1)
Beirut (1)
Berlin (1)
Bogotá (1)
Brisbane (1)
Bucharest
Budapest (1)
Cairo
Chengdu
Copenhagen
Dallas
Doha
Düsseldorf
Hamburg
Houston (1)
Lima
Miami (2)
Rome (1)
Tel Aviv
Vancouver
Washington, D.C. (1)
Beta
Abu Dhabi
Athens (1)
Cape Town
Casablanca
Chennai
Chongqing (1)
Denver
Hangzhou (1)
Hanoi (1)
Helsinki (1)
Ho Chi Minh City (1)
Karachi
Kyiv
Manama
Montevideo
Nairobi
Nanjing
Oslo
Panama City (1)
Perth (1)
Philadelphia
Rio de Janeiro
Seattle (1)
Tianjin
Beta −
Almaty
Amman (2)
Austin (2)
Belgrade
Bratislava
Calgary (1)
Caracas (1)
Changsha
Dalian
Detroit (1)
Dhaka
Edinburgh
Geneva
George Town
Guatemala City (1)
Hyderabad (1)
Jeddah
Jinan
Kampala
Kuwait City (1)
Lagos (1)
Lahore (1)
Lyon
Manchester
Minneapolis (1)
Monterrey
Muscat (1)
Nicosia
Osaka (1)
Quito
Saint Petersburg (2)
San Diego (2)
San José
San Salvador
Shenyang
Sofia (1)
Stuttgart
Tampa (2)
Tunis
Wuhan (1)
Xiamen
Xi'an (1)
Zagreb (1)
Zhengzhou (1)
Gamma
Gamma level cities are cities that link smaller economic regions into the world economy and are classified into three sections, Gamma +, Gamma, and Gamma − cities.
Gamma +
Adelaide
Ahmedabad (1)
Algiers (1)
Antwerp (1)
Baku (1)
Baltimore (1)
Belfast (1)
Charlotte (1)
Cologne (2)
Dar es Salaam
Glasgow
Guadalajara (1)
Hefei (1)
Islamabad (1)
Kolkata (1)
Kunming (1)
Ljubljana (1)
Medellín (2)
Orlando (2)
Phnom Penh (2)
Phoenix (1)
Porto (1)
Pune
Qingdao (1)
Riga
Rotterdam
San Jose (1)
St. Louis (1)
Suzhou (1)
Tbilisi (1)
Gamma
Ankara
Bristol
Colombo (1)
Dakar (2)
Durban (1)
Gothenburg (3)
Guayaquil (1)
Haikou (3)
La Paz
Malmö (3)
Managua (2)
Nantes (1)
Nashville (1)
Ottawa (1)
San Juan (2)
Santo Domingo
Taichung (3)
Tegucigalpa
Tirana (1)
Turin
Valencia (2)
Vilnius
Wellington
Wrocław (1)
Gamma −
Accra (2)
Asunción (1)
Belo Horizonte
Bilbao (1)
Cleveland (2)
Columbus (2)
Douala (1)
Edmonton (1)
Fuzhou
Harare (2)
Harbin (2)
Kaohsiung (1)
Kansas City (1)
Katowice (2)
Lausanne (1)
Limassol (2)
Luanda (1)
Málaga (2)
Maputo
Milwaukee
Nagoya (2)
Nassau (1)
Port Louis (3)
Penang
Poznań
Querétaro (1)
Sacramento
Salt Lake City (2)
Taiyuan (1)
Sufficiency
Sufficiency level cities are cities that have a sufficient degree of services so as not to be overly dependent on world cities. This is sorted into High Sufficiency cities and Sufficiency cities.
High Sufficiency
Abidjan
Abuja
Birmingham (4)
Brasília (1)
Cincinnati (1)
Curitiba (1)
Dammam (1)
Hartford
Indianapolis (1)
Johor Bahru (1)
Kraków (1)
Leeds
Lusaka (2)
Macau (1)
Ningbo
Porto Alegre
Port of Spain (1)
Puebla (1)
Raleigh
San Antonio (1)
Seville (1)
Strasbourg (1)
The Hague (1)
Tijuana (1)
Ulaanbaatar (1)
Yangon (1)
Yerevan (1)
Sufficiency
Aarhus
Aberdeen
Aguascalientes City
Alexandria
Astana
Baghdad
Bandar Seri Begawan
Barranquilla
Basel
Bergen
Bern
Birmingham
Bishkek
Blantyre
Bologna
Bordeaux
Brazzaville
Bremen
Buffalo
Bursa
Busan
Cali
Campinas
Canberra
Cardiff
Cebu City
Changchun
Chihuahua
Chișinău
Christchurch
Ciudad Juárez
Córdoba
Des Moines
Dortmund
Dresden
Dushanbe
Essen
Florence (1)
Fukuoka
Gaborone (1)
Genoa
Goiânia
Graz
Grenoble
Guiyang
Haifa
Halifax
Hamilton
Hanover
Harrisburg
Hobart
Hohhot
Honolulu
Hsinchu
İzmir (1)
Jacksonville
Jerusalem
Kabul
Kazan
Kigali
Kingston
Kinshasa
Kobe
Kochi
Kyoto
Labuan (1)
Lanzhou
Las Vegas (1)
Leipzig
León
Libreville
Liège
Lille
Linz
Liverpool
Łódź
Lomé
Louisville
Malacca
Mannheim
Marseille
Memphis
Mérida
Mexicali
Minsk (2)
Montpellier
Nanchang
Nanning
Naples
New Orleans
Newcastle upon Tyne
Nice
Nottingham
Novosibirsk
Nuremberg
Oklahoma City
Omaha
Palermo
Palo Alto
Pittsburgh
Podgorica
Port Elizabeth
Port Harcourt
Portland
Port Moresby
Pretoria
Quebec City
Recife
Reykjavík
Richmond
Rochester
Rosario
Salvador
San Luis Potosí City
San Pedro Sula
Sanaa
Santa Cruz de la Sierra
Sapporo
Sarajevo
Saskatoon
Sendai
Sheffield
Shijiazhuang
Skopje (1)
Southampton (1)
Surabaya (1)
Suva
Tainan
Tallinn (3)
Tashkent
Toulouse
Trieste
Tulsa
Ürümqi
Utrecht
Valencia
Valparaíso
Vientiane
Windhoek
Winnipeg
Wuxi
Yokohama
Zhuhai
No longer classified
The following cities were included in the 2018 edition, but not in the 2020 edition:
Antananarivo
Kathmandu
Leicester
Madison
Nantong
Weifang
Xining
See also
Global city
Notes
References
External links
Research institutes in Leicestershire
Social science research institutes
Think tanks established in 1998
1998 establishments in England
Loughborough University
Global studies research