Global Best Places to Work and Live In: 4 World Cities Everyone Must Take Note Of

Global city is a product of swift integration of the world economies and rise of global consumer class. There are cities which have vital economic importance for their own countries, and then there are cities which serve as an important node in the global economic system. The term Global City dates back to 1991 made popular by famous sociologist Saskia Sassen and has now become symbolic of places that offer the best economic, social and cultural climate to professionals and businesspersons for working or carrying out business and trade. Globally integrated cities have strong effects on economic and human development. They offer a thriving environment that attracts the best talent from across the world. Here are the four best places in this world to work and live that I would love to visit at least once:

New York

Multiple surveys and reports confirm the fact that New York is by far the best place on this planet to do a job, provided it pays well. The city is one of the biggest modern hubs of the global economy and hence has been categorized as Alpha ++ world city. The Wall Street in Lower Manhattan is world’s leading financial center and is home to the New York Stock Exchange, the world’s largest stock exchange by total market capitalization of its listed companies. New York’s economic might can be gauged from the fact that the city is home to the highest number of the world’s billionaires. 45 Fortune 500 companies have their headquarters in New York City and industries such as advertising, new media, fashion, design, software development are also growing accounting for the increasing share of jobs here. The sky rocketing prices of real estate and a huge disparity in income across different sections of the city are possibly the only points that go against the city.

Dubai

Dubai is the only Middle-Eastern city to feature in PwC’s Cities of Opportunity 2014 report. The city has seen remarkable progress in the last few years and is helped by the fact that it has low corporate taxes, zero income tax, and therefore low cost of living. Combine this with an unbeatable infrastructure and improving quality of life, Dubai continues its ascent to the peak. Dubai’s economic backbone was oil industry till sometime ago before the government decided to diversify to non-oil industries such as tourism, real estate and construction, finance and trade amongst others. The efforts did yield good results as these industries now generate the most employment opportunities. With IT giants such as Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, IBM and Oracle Corporations establishing their operational bases here, new employment opportunities in Dubai have got a boost.

Dubai’s extreme climate is its Achilles heels. Its weakest performance in the PwC report is in sustainability and the natural environment is a reminder of the resident’s over reliance on air conditioning and desalinated water.

London

London ranks second in the “Top global cities of today” list of A.T Kearney survey. The capital city of England, is a transport, financial and cultural capital of Europe. While all of the London’s airport terminals see more than 100,000 flights per month, over the course of next one decade the Black Asian Minority Ethnic group will account for 80 % of growth in its working age population. It is a home to 33% of European HQs of Global Fortune 500 companies while it is also the world’s largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic. The city singlehandedly generates 20% of the UK’s GDP and is always fighting it out for the top spot with New York when it comes to ranking the most important location for international finance. Even if we ignore the significant cultural and economic history attached to it, the city’s modern face, its slick transport system, advanced healthcare facilities and easy-to-do-business reputation makes it one of the three triumvirate, the other two being Paris and New York.

Sustainability is again a key challenge that the city faces in the wake of growing modernization and industrialization.

Paris

Being one of Europe’s foremost settlements for more than two millennia, Paris ought to be featured in this list. Economically, it is growing stronger than ever, with Paris Region having one of the highest GDPs in the world, (to the tune of $US845 billion). The Region headquarters 30 of the Fortune Global 500 companies and is the third most popular tourist destination in the world after London and Bangkok. Despite being a hub for high-value-added service industries and high-tech manufacturing, the city is listed as the second most “green” large city in Europe, after Berlin. The city of monuments is close on the heels of New York and London in terms of economic importance and also has the best mass transit coverage of any city on the list.

There are scores of other cities which can be listed here; however, these four currently hold my imagination like no other.

Note: This article originally appeared on Linkedin