Context:

Recently, Japan's Mori Memorial Foundation released its annual Global Power City Index for 2024.

Global Power City Index 2024

Global Power Cities Index (GPCI), first published by the Mori Memorial Foundation's Institute for Urban Strategies in 2008. 

It evaluates and ranks the major cities of the world according to their “magnetism,” or their comprehensive power to attract people, capital, and enterprises from around the world.

GPCI evaluates and ranks the "overall power" of the world's major cities based on the 6 urban functions: -

• Economy, 
• Research and Development, 
• Cultural Interaction, 
• Livability, 
• Environment, and 
• Accessibility

These above functions comprise 26 indicator groups which in turn consist of 70 indicators. 

The highest possible total score equals 2,600 points.

London maintained its first place in the GPCI-2024 followed by New York, Tokyo, Paris, and Singapore.

• The top five cities of the index were unchanged from the last year, but Tokyo, Paris and Singapore largely increased the scores and narrowed the gap with New York.

This year, the index expanded its evaluation from 30 to 48 cities.

Dubai is the only city (8^th place) in the Middle East to feature in the top 10 rankings of the index for the second consecutive year.

Mumbai is the only city from India and it is ranked 48^th rank (last in the index).

Significance of the Index

• Cities use GPCI results to guide urban planning, policy-making, and international investment decisions, aiming to enhance their global standing in various sectors.
• The GPCI can grasp the strengths, weaknesses, and challenges of global cities in a continuously changing world not only through a ranking but also through analyzing that ranking’s specific components.
• The Global cities rankings of the GPCI-2024 are shown in the following map: