Often they soar above the hinterland around them, having more to do with each other than with their own countrymen.” In addition to the requisite international corporations and power dining rooms, global cities feature fine universities, great art and music, think tanks, and jazz bars. Instead, it is a landscape of peaks and valleys, and global cities are the peaks. When it comes to the Urban Elite, “the world is not flat. The study is a collaboration of ATK, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and Foreign Policy magazine. Global cities are “crowded with those who are creating the future, noisy with the clash of deals and ideas, frantic in the race to stay ahead,” in the engaging words of the authors of The Urban Elite, the A.T. New York, London, Tokyo, Paris, Shanghai and others all vied for top honors in business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement. The Global Cities Index ranks 65 of the world’s most influential urban centers on five dimensions of globalization.

Global worldwide new cities