PwC: Top 2012 Cities of Opportunity Study

By Rob Starr, Content Manager, Big4.com

According to the fifth edition of Cities of Opportunity released recently  by PwC and the Partnership for New York City, while New York officially edges out London by one point across 10 economic indicators, the city wins in no individual category.

Bob Moritz, PwC’s US Chairman and Senior Partner comments:

“Cities succeed when they invest in core needs important to both people and businesses,” her said.  “When a city invests continuously and aggressively in critical areas, including education, healthcare, safety and infrastructure, it creates a healthy urban environment. Entrepreneurs and businesses thrive, the city economy grows, and long-term resiliency follows.”

“The Cities of Opportunity report is a detailed and insightful analysis of how leading global cities stack up against one another,” said Partnership for New York City President and CEO Kathryn Wylde. “New York City and London, along with other established cities, maintain their top status because of a depth and diversity of strength across all measures. But the true value of this report is not just the rankings; it is that every city can learn from one another about what works when building a 21st century city.”

Beijing advanced to the top spot in “economic clout” while Shanghai placed fifth behind Paris, London, and New York. This is the first time two emerging cities appeared in the top five of this indicator category.

Beijing and Shanghai are also in the top five in a new PwC category, “city gateway,” along with London, Paris, and New York. Balanced progress across a range of social and economic indicators represents the next step for these cities in transforming exceptional growth into sustainable performance for these emerging cities according to the PwC study.