These are the highly globalised and competitive metropolitan economies with the deepest
and most settled concentrations of firms, capital and talent. Six cities stand out.
The ‘Big Six’ include the traditional ‘super cities’ of London, New York, Paris and Tokyo,
but more recently this quartet has been joined by Hong Kong and Singapore.
They have significant competitive advantages, but nonetheless are vulnerable to other
dynamic gateway cities that are well positioned to capture spill-over demand, notably Seoul,
Toronto and Sydney and, over the longer term, Shanghai.To support rapid urbanisation,
cities such as Shanghai, Mexico City and Istanbul are witnessing massive
expansion of their real estate inventory through the construction of impressive
mixed-use schemes and trophy developments, which are seen as the hallmark of a modern city.
