Many main international cities noticed a major lower in competitiveness through the COVID-19 pandemic, as governments tightened border restrictions and imposed robust social distancing restrictions, in accordance with the 2021 Global Power City Index (GPCI).
It stays to be seen whether or not, within the post-pandemic world of work, these global hubs will retain their capability to draw the highest-caliber employees. But, the 2021 Global Power City Index—produced by the Mori Memorial Foundation’s Institute for Urban Strategies in Tokyo—discovered most main cities have tailored to work-from-home and hybrid work traits.
Peter Dustan, a researcher on the Institute for Urban Strategies, says that whereas international travel is still difficult attributable to COVID restrictions, many cities have begun stress-free social distancing measures, as COVID-19 vaccinations rise. Some cities have additionally begun requiring proof of vaccination to attend massive occasions, eat at eating places or use public transit.
Dustan thinks this 12 months’s Power City Index, launched Wednesday, is helpful for evaluating how cities have been affected by COVID-19. “The shape or character of urban attractiveness may shift, but its importance in attracting new business and talent will remain,” he says.
Read extra: Here Are the World’s Greatest Places of 2021
For occasion, Hong Kong, which has ranked within the high 10 every year for the previous seven years, slid to thirteenth place from ninth in 2020. Hong Kong’s authorities has among the many toughest COVID-19 border restrictions on this planet, with as much as three weeks of obligatory lodge quarantine for vacationers. The Asian monetary hub additionally had the most important decline within the variety of air passengers, at 88%.
London continues to be probably the most enticing metropolis, in accordance with the Global Power City Index, however its total rating dipped, with the report’s authors attributing the decline to each the pandemic and Brexit, which hampered its economic system and international accessibility. “The fact that all other European cities increased their economy scores suggests that the U.K.’s exit from the EU is beginning to have an impact, allowing other European cities to start catching up to London,” the institute stated.
Tokyo improved its total scores, largely attributable to the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics and enhancements in work flexibility as Japan adapts to work from home.
The Global Power City Index evaluates and ranks international cities by their “magnetism” utilizing 70 indicators throughout six classes: economic system, analysis and improvement, cultural interplay, livability, setting and accessibility.
In the 48 cities assessed this 12 months, the examine noticed accessibility taking an enormous hit; in comparison with the 12 months earlier than the worldwide pandemic started, the frequency of worldwide flights between these cities decreased almost 50%.
But the Institute for Urban Strategies reported some constructive adjustments within the 48 cities regardless of fewer individuals transferring between them—greater than half of them noticed a rise in co-working areas and a decline in working hours.
Here are the Global Power City Index’s high 10 world cities:
- London
- New York
- Tokyo
- Paris
- Singapore
- Amsterdam
- Berlin
- Seoul
- Madrid
- Shanghai
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