Learning from the East-- Insights from China's Urban Success 2018 Global Cities Report A.T. Kearney's eighth Global Cities report highlights regional trends revealed over the past decade and examines what defines the world's most influential cities.View online: bit.ly/2018-Global-Cities2018 Global Cities Report1There are reasons that cities such as New York, London, Paris, and Singapore routinely attract the best companies, the top talent, and the most investment dollars. Influential cities such as these possess the right mix of factors such as business activity, human capital, information exchange, political engagement, and cultural experiences that help organizations and people to thrive. The A.T. Kearney 2018 Global Cities report examines which global cities are improving in their competitiveness and what factors are driving that success. In an era of increased localization, challenges to trade, and a rise in populist sentiments around the world, the results of this report go beyond simply ranking cities. Instead, this analysis reveals which global cities are primed for urban transformation and growth--and those that are falling behind.Cities such as New York, London, Paris, and Singapore possess a mix of factors such as business activity, human capital, information exchange, political engagement, and cultural experiences that help organizations and people to thrive.Even more, the 2018 report shows how commitments to key areas such as innovation, transparency, and information exchange will define the next generation of the world's most influential cities. In the US, you need only look at the headlines surrounding Amazon's search for its second headquarters to intuit the importance of understanding why some seem to grow, thrive, and attract continued investment while others miss out. This year, the report includes information on some of the expected top cities--places such as New York and San Francisco. But it also chronicles the remarkable rise of China's super cities and how a comprehensive approach to urbanization is paying off in spades for the global powerhouse.Highlights from the 2018 Global Cities Report Seven new cities have been added to the Index and the Outlook: In the US, Seattle joins the rankings for the first time, and in China, six cities have emerged in the rankings (Changsha, Foshan, Ningbo, Tangshan, Wuxi, and Yantai). New York maintains first place in the Global Cities Index driven by its strong performance in business activity and human capital. San Francisco holds on to first place in the Global Cities Outlook driven by its continued strength in innovation. The theoretical perfect city, one whose composite score across all Index metrics is 100, is composed of 15 cities. New York claims the top spot in five of the 27 metrics and Brussels in four. This reinforces that no city has a lock on all aspects that make a global city. View online: bit.ly/2018-Global-Cities 2018 Global Cities Report 1The theoretical fastest city, one whose composite score across all Outlook metrics is 100, is composed of nine cities. Melbourne and Sydney claim top spots in three of the 13 metrics, Moscow and London in two. The race for being the most global city in the future is wide open. The cities that have climbed the most in the Global Cities Index rankings since last year have made marked improvements in the areas of business activity and information exchange. In the Global Cities Outlook, cities that improved their economics and governance made the biggest leap in the rankings. China's key cities have experienced greater progress than cities in the other regions of the world during the 10 years of A.T. Kearney's Global Cities research; business activity remains the dominant factor, but human capital and cultural experience are also significant drivers of growth.A Decade of Global Cities Data Established in 2008, A.T. Kearney's Global Cities was one of the first to rank cities based on their global standing, and it remains highly regarded for its holistic assessment of city capabilities and potential. Designed by top academics and business advisors, the analysis is based on facts and publicly available data. We develop the report annually, updating the underlying information and reviewing whether new cities meet the criteria for inclusion. Since its inception, the report added the Global Cities Outlook and it increases the number of cities it assesses nearly every year. The 2018 report includes the Global Cities Index, which examines cities' performance, and the Global Cities Outlook, which evaluates their potential (see sidebar: 135 Cities, Six Global Regions, One Powerful Report). Over the past 10 years, the report has evolved to better reflect the factors that impact the success of cities. The first Global Cities Index examined the comparative strengths of 60 cities; this report compiles data on 135 different metropolitan areas. Together, the Index and Outlook present a unique tool for assessing the world's most influential and attractive cities--and determining what makes them so. The information is135 Cities, Six Global Regions, One Powerful Report The Global Cities Index examines the current performance of cities based on 27 metrics spanning five dimensions: business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement. The Index provides insights into the global reach, performance, and level of development of the world's largest cities. It also allows for the comparison of diverse cities and the identification of core strengths and distinctive differences. The Global Cities Outlook evaluates a city's potential based on the rate of change for 13 metrics across four dimensions: personal well-being, economics, innovation, and governance. These metrics help evaluate long-term investment and success by assessing elements such as environmental performance, infrastructure, and innovation capacity. The Outlook brings a forward-looking perspective to city-level policies and practices that shape future competitiveness, identifying growing cities that are likely to become the world's most prominent cities.View online: bit.ly/2018-Global-Cities2018 Global Cities Report2especially valuable for business leaders as they assess new locations or consider expanding internationally.2018 Index and Outlook Performance The Index: business activity gives global cities a boost The Big Apple stays on top The 2018 Global Cities Index finds New York City to be the world's most influential city. New York overtook London in 2017, after falling behind in 2016, and has consolidated its leading position in 2018. Figure 1 on page 4 presents the top 25 cities in the Global Cities Index for 2018. Complete rankings and more detail about the metrics and their weightings within each dimension are provided in the appendix. New York has shown strong improvements in business activity, while also leading the global scores in human capital. Of course, the Big Apple remains a hub for numerous industries including finance, media, and fashion. But it's also increasingly becoming a center of start-up activity and venture-backed tech companies. New York City also received its highest ever score in cultural experience.While there has been no change in the leading cities for each of the dimensions that the Index considers, it's worth noting that the overall leaders in each category represent a mix of cities from across all development levels and world regions.London, meanwhile, witnessed less improvement and some declines in measured areas, particularly in political engagement. The latter may simply reflect a political exhaustion after the record turnout and dramatic fallout of the 2016 Brexit vote. London and New York scored highly in the human capital metric, a sign of the continued appeal of the cities to talent from around the world. They each saw slightly less improvement in inf