Investigating the presence of national capitals as ranked global cities

Abstract

Urban competitiveness has become an undeniable reality of our world. Cities around the world create strategies and development plans to enhance their competitiveness and reach worldwide fame and attraction for different segments. This competition has widened to reach different aspects of social, economic, physical and environmental aspects of cities. Along the years different methodologies and criteria were proposed to create a systematic assessment of cities worldwide and rank their competitiveness. The results of such assessments are published in indices; e.g. Global Power City Index, Global Power City Index, etc. Each index has its own set of indicators that cover different aspects of cities; e.g. economy, environment, accessibility. Sample cities from all over the world are graded and ranked accordingly. The cities that achieve top ranking in those global assessment lists are called global cities. This paper aims to investigate if being a national capital can be related to becoming a global city. This is through the study of two global city rankings; Global Power City Index (GPCI) and Global Cities Index (GCI), for three successive years; 2016, 2017, 2018. It is shown that around 50% of ranked cities are national capitals across both ranking system and over the three years covered in this research. European national capitals reach 66% of those featured, followed by Asian capitals with around 33%. The presence of capital cities is also evident in within each indicator of the Global Power City Index (GPCI). In general, evident presence can be linked to national capitals especially those of Europe and Asia.