Commercial real estate company Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL) has come out with a ranking of cities worldwide by “momentum.” [link no longer exists] JLL researchers used 42 factors to evaluate world cities on the move and their rankings do at least somewhat jibe with the sense I have regarding the cities I know. Their ranking of the top 30 cities is as follows:
1. Bangalore
2. Ho Chi Minh City
3. Silicon Valley
4. Shanghai
5. Hyderabad
6. London
7. Austin
8. Hanoi
9. Boston
10. Nairobi
11. Dubai
12. Melbourne
13. Pune
14. New York
15. Beijing
16. Sydney
17. Paris
18. Chennai
19. Manila
20. Seattle
21. San Francisco
22. Shenzhen
23. Delhi
24. Raleigh-Durham
25. Mumbai
26. Hangzhou
27. Los Angeles
28. Dublin
29. Nanjing
30. Stockholm
So as you can see, Shanghai comes out on top among China cities at #4, Beijing clocks in at #15, Shenzhen at #22 and Nanjing at 29. I was a bit surprised not to see Shenzhen at the top of the China list, because without a doubt, our China lawyers have been seeing a greater increase of work from there than from any other city in China. But who are we to quibble.
What most struck me (but did not surprise me) is how well Vietnam’s two largest cities did in this ranking, with both Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi in the top ten. Beyond China and Vietnam, India and the United States do best in the rankings overall, with India contributing two cities in the top ten (Bangalore at #1 and Hyderabad at #5) and four more cities ranked between 10 and 30. The United States has three cities in the top ten and an additional eight cities ranked between 10 and 30.
What are your thoughts regarding the above ranking?