Economy
A New Typology of Global Cities
The seven types of global cities driving the world economy.
Globalization and urbanization go hand in hand. The world, I’ve long argued, is spiky. The 40 largest mega-regions produce two-thirds of global economic output and 90 percent of global innovation, while housing just 18 percent of the world’s population.
But we lack solid data on global cities. (My own work uses satellite data on the world at night, which has its own limitations.)
A new report, “Redefining Global Cities,” by the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program fills an important gap here, providing detailed data on the 123 largest global cities based on their metro economies.