GaWC: 2018 Classification of Alpha, Beta and Gamma World Cities

[dimondpark]

I at least appreciate that they finally make the criteria for this errantly titled ranking clear for all to understand:

The results are based upon the office networks of 175 advanced producer service firms in 707 cities.

https://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/world2018t.html

[skyscraperpage17]

Originally Posted by dimondpark

I at least appreciate that they finally make the criteria for this errantly titled ranking clear for all to understand:



https://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/world2018t.html

A couple observations:

1. Houston is now an Alpha City.

2. Miami has moved up from Alpha- to Alpha.

[TexasPlaya]

Originally Posted by skyscraperpage17

A couple observations:

1. Houston is now an Alpha City.

2. Miami has moved up from Alpha- to Alpha.

Frankly surprised Houston is above Dallas, but neat.

[SIGSEGV]

Surprised Miami moved up before SF.

[sentinel]

I mean, sure, why not; I guess this makes sense....?

I wonder what kind of effect Brexit will have on London's standing once that's fully implemented in March 2019...

[skyscraperpage17]

Originally Posted by TexasPlaya

Frankly surprised Houston is above Dallas, but neat.

It's all about that black gold.

[Jonesy55]

Originally Posted by sentinel

I mean, sure, why not; I guess this makes sense....?

I wonder what kind of effect Brexit will have on London's standing once that's fully implemented in March 2019...

It might go down to Alpha+ maybe if the fallout is quite bad, I'd be surprised if it went down further than that.

Some odd rankings on the list imo, Seattle=San Salvador?

[Crawford]

This has to be the most Europhilic list out there.

Yeah, clearly Budapest and Lisbon have stronger "office networks of 175 advanced producer service firms" than Boston and Dallas.

And the Bay Area trails Warsaw, obviously; it's only the home to the most transformative and valuable corporations on the planet. Detroit is behind Guatemala City, it's only the auto capital of the planet, and Osaka, with the world's fifth largest economy, is slotted behind heavyweights like Riga, Colombo and Guayaquil.

[Pedestrian]

When I saw Sydney in the alpha+ list I gave up on this system. Australia is a nice little country occupying all of a desertifying continent and Sydney is its most important city (and a nice one too). But that doesn't give it global importance above either modern economic powerhouses like LA or the SF Bay Area or historic capitals like Vienna or the capital of the most militarily and economically powerful nation of the present day (Washington DC). Sorry.

Note: Washington could turn Dubai back into desert if it wanted to by cutting them off from the global banking system just as it has done to Tehran.

[urbanactivist]

Originally Posted by skyscraperpage17

It's all about that black gold.

It's mostly about that for Houston, but the city has been making other important advances that have a global impact. The Texas Medical Center continues to be a leading national force in medical innovation and research, area universities like the University of Houston and Rice University have grown in international prominence, and the city garnered much acclaim for things like the retooling of the public transportation system.

Houston's doing some good stuff, so I'm glad to see that people are taking notice.

[Buckman821]

Dubai and Sydney? ...Umm...Okay

This list seems a little odd

[GlassCity]

Also Ottawa isn't on the list but Winnipeg is...weird

[Zeej]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

Also Ottawa isn't on the list but Winnipeg is...weird

Ottawa is listed as Gamma -

[Pemgin]

Miami lol

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by Zeej

Ottawa is listed as Gamma -

Oops, thanks. I control-Fd it and couldn't find it.

[Lear]

Zagreb = Lagos = Minneapolis = Berlin



The GAWC Ranking is the most misinterpreted ranking of all city surveys.
Yet it is one of the most cited. The reason is the Alpha-Beta-Gamma labeling.
It pretends importance. But the used methodology mirrors only a fraction of a city´s status.

Its like ranking famous actors by measuring only the foot length.

(BTW, I hope all readers here know that the UK is the source of most city ranking annually.
The majority of the rankings are meant as marketing tools in order to promote UK based cities internationally )

[Sun Belt]

Why does any of this ever matter?

Anybody with a functioning brain can make money anywhere [at least in America].

Honestly, who cares? Really.

[JManc]

When I think of "GaWC":

[photoLith]

Im confused, how can Cleveland be a Gamma+ city while Pittsburgh is only a sufficiency city? Cleveland is still having massive population loss, meanwhile Pittsburgh's population loss has pretty much stabilized and is very marginally growing in population. Pittsburgh is home to 6 Fortune 500 companies and Cleveland has 4. I wish I knew how they compiled this data and determined which cities fell where.

[ssiguy]

Ottawa is one the list but behind Wellington. Ottawa is triple the size of Wellington, the capitol of a G7 country with 3X more people, and is a high tech powerhouse. Also how can Seattle with all it`s corporate headquarters be well behind much smaller Vancouver which has no head offices of any kind?

No offensive to my Australian friends but how is Sydney ahead of larger Toronto when Toronto is by far the most important financial, economic, cultural, manufacturing, high-tech, and media centre of a larger country who`s influence is not tempered by nearby Melbourne? This is to say nothing of the fact that the TSX is the 8th largest stock exchange in the world.