Several authoritative global city evaluation agencies have updated the global city rankings in 2019. Guangzhou has made steady progress, and its status as a “First Tier Global City” has been further consolidated.
Oxford Economics: Guangzhou Ranks No.9 in 2035 by Economic Volume
Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Databank contains the development data of 780 largest urban regions in the world, which is a relatively comprehensive databank in the field of global cities research. According to the databank, Oxford Economics makes irregular forecasts of the economic development of cities around the world. The 2019 forecast shows a dramatic shift in the global economic landscape over the next 15 years. By 2035, 56 of the world’s top 100 cities will be from Asia, 34 of them from China. If the world’s top 10 cities are measured by GDP, in 15 years’ time New York will still be number one, Paris will lag behind Shanghai and Beijing, and Boston and Washington will drop out of the top 10 to be replaced by Guangzhou and Shenzhen. According to Oxford Economics, productivity growth mainly depends on providing people with better living conditions and living environment, which requires more investment, more innovation and higher education investment. All of these factors depend on an open, export-oriented economic environment, that is, an innovationdriven economic environment. Guangzhou does a good job in providing a sound environment for economic development. The rapid development of the tertiary industry and the constant increase of labor force will become the advantages of Guangzhou’s economic development in the future. Its location in GBA will also accelerate the development of Guangzhou.
A.T. Kearney Global Cities Outlook: Guangzhou’s City Development Prospects are Improving
In 2008, A.T. Kearney launched the Global Cities Index, one of the earliest global cities rankings, which ranks the most competitive cities in the world based on 5 dimensions, namely, business activities, human capital, information exchanges, cultural experience and political affairs. Starting in 2015, A.T. Kearney added the Global Cities Outlook, which evaluates the future development potential of cities from 4 dimensions, including residents’ happiness, economic status, innovation and governance. The Global Cities Outlook is released at the same time as the Global Cities Index.
Global Cities Index 2019 included 130 cities. Guangzhou ranks 71st, close to the rankings of Johannesburg, Caracas, Nairobi, St. Petersburg, Nagoya, Phoenix and other national capital cities or large national economic centers. Guangzhou’s rankings are basically the same in the past five years. Global Cities Outlook 2019 forecasts the future development potential of cities by 2029. Guangzhou ranks 65th, up 11 places from 2015 to 2019, and 14th as the most improved city in the world. Guangzhou’s relative ranking gap with Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur and other leading cities has been further narrowed, and its leading edge over Bangkok, Jakarta and other cities has been further expanded, showing that Guangzhou has a good prospect for future development.
Innovation CitiesTM Index 2019: Guangzhou’s Ranking Goes up 39 Places
The Innovation CitiesTM Index is launched on the basis of a database, which tracks development indexes of more than 1,500 cities, developed by 2Thinknow, the world’s first professional think tank dedicated to research on “Innovation”. Since its first release in April 2007, the number of cities included in the Innovation CitiesTM Index has increased steadily, from 95 initially to 500 in 2016.
Guangzhou is one of the cities in China that have made great progress in the ranking of the Innovation CitiesTM Index in recent years, especially since 2016. Guangzhou was given the rating of “Innovation Hub City” in 2017. In 2019, Guangzhou rose further to 74th in the world, up 39 places from the previous period. Guangzhou scored 45, very close to the levels of Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The gap between Guangzhou and the top cities in terms of comprehensive innovation competitiveness is getting smaller. According to the current development trend, Guangzhou is expected to become a “Core Innovation City” in the near future.
Global Financial Centers Index: Guangzhou as “Global Specialist”
The Global Financial Centers Index (GFCI), jointly compiled by Z/Yen Group and China Development Institute (CDI), is the most widely used evaluation system for financial center cities in the international financial industry. It is published annually in spring and autumn, and issued 25 and 26 in 2019. The 26 issue includes 104 cities. Guangzhou has been included in the list since the 21 issue of 2017, ranking in the middle and upper reaches of the ranking of global financial centers and gradually rising to 23rd in the 26 issue, maintaining the top 10 in Asia.
Guangzhou’s financial influence in the world has been improved to a new level. Since 2017, the number of questionnaires received from financial professionals has doubled every year. By the 26 issue, the number of questionnaires received from other parts of the world exceeded 56%, which reflects the global financial connection of Guangzhou enhanced remarkably. In the 26 issue of the report, Guangzhou’s rating rose from the former “Established International Financial Center” to “Global Specialists” in the same category as the leading city Shenzhen.
The integration of Guangzhou’s technology and finance has unleashed the new vitality of the industries. Guangzhou ranked 4th in the Leading FinTech Centres, which was a new ranking released in the 26 issue.
PwC “Cities of Opportunity”: Guangzhou as an Important City in GBA
The “Cities of Opportunity” report, compiled by PwC in collaboration with the China Development Research Foundation (CDRF), is a ranking of the development of Chinese cities. Cities of Opportunity 2019 includes Hong Kong and Macao for the first time, bringing the total sample of cities to 38. Guangzhou ranked 4th after Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Cities in GBA has a prominent performance. Among the top 10 cities in the “regional important cities” dimension, cities in GBA occupies three places (Hong Kong ranking 3rd, Guangzhou 4th and Shenzhen 6th), with significant advantages. In terms of “transportation and urban planning”, five cities in GBA are listed top 10, which is closely related to the great efforts to build transportation infrastructure in GBA in recent years. The opening of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link and the Hong Kong-ZhuhaiMacao Bridge (HZMB) are further enhancing the degree of integration between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macao, and the infrastructure will increasingly play the role of “hard connectivity”, narrowing the spatial and temporal distance among city clusters. The development of GBA will surely be more vigorous and powerful.
Guangzhou’s Performance in Global Cities Network： First-tier Global City
Guangzhou has a strong economy, balanced development, and basically complete functions of a global city. It ranks well above the average in the comprehensive city index and holds a stable position as a first-tier global city. The above city ranking studies make roughly the same estimate on the functions of Guangzhou as a global city, that is, its economic size is the fundamental advantage of Guangzhou as a global city. In recent years, Guangzhou’s global network connectivity has been stepping into the tops globally. According to The World According to GaWC, which is based on global network connectivity, Guangzhou ranks 27th out of 374 cities in the world in 2018. Guangzhou ranks 13th in IESE Cities in Motion Index 2019 in terms of mobility and transportation. Guangzhou has become an important global node with international influence and a regional center, playing an important role in connecting China’s economy with the global economy. Guangzhou has vigorously implemented the strategy of innovation-driven development, fostered and introduced world-class innovative industrial clusters and world-class enterprises in the new generation of information technology, artificial intelligence, biomedicine (IAB), new energy, new materials (NEM) and other strategic emerging industries, significantly improving its scientific and technological innovation capacity. The development of the financial sector has also accelerated significantly. In 2019, the financial sector in Guangzhou accounted for over 8% of GDP, making Guangzhou one of the most active regions in direct financing in China. With these advantages, Guangzhou plays a better role as a hub in global resource allocation and spatial flow of production factors among global cities. The fact that Guangzhou has a bright development prospect has been unanimously recognized by international institutions.
