The GaWC examines cities worldwide to narrow them down to a roster of world cities, then ranks these based on their connectivity through four "advanced producer services": accountancy, advertising, banking/finance, and law.[3] The GaWC inventory ranks city economics more heavily than political or cultural factors. Beyond the categories of "Alpha" world cities (with four sub-categories), "Beta" world cities (three sub-categories), and "Gamma" world cities (three sub-categories), the GaWC cities include additional cities at "High sufficiency" and "Sufficiency" level.
GaWC published city classifications in 1998, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024.[4] The 2004 rankings added several new indicators while continuing to rank city economics more heavily than political or cultural factors. The 2008 roster, similar to the 1998 version, is sorted into categories of Alpha world cities (with four sub-categories), Beta world cities (three sub-categories), Gamma world cities (three sub-categories), and additional cities with High sufficiency or Sufficiency presence. The list has been prone to change in the ranks. For example, some cities that were selected prior to 2018, such as the United States cities of Greensboro and Providence, are no longer classified as sufficient level.[5][6]
The classification results for 2020 are derived from the activities of 175 leading firms providing advanced producer services across 802 cities worldwide. The results should be interpreted as indicating the importance of cities as nodes in the world city network (i.e. enabling corporate globalization).[8] The cities in the 2024 classification are as follows, listed in alphabetical order per section:[9]
(1) or (1) indicates a city moved one category up or down since the 2022 classification.[10]
Alpha
Alpha level cities are linked to major economic states/regions and highly integrated into the world economy. Alpha level cities are classified into four sections: Alpha ++, Alpha +, Alpha, and Alpha − cities.
Alpha ++
Alpha ++ cities are cities most integrated with the global economy:
Alpha + are "other highly integrated cities that complement London and New York, largely filling in advanced service needs for the Pacific/Asia [region]":[11]
Beta level cities are cities that link moderate economic regions to the world economy and are classified into three sections: Beta +, Beta, and Beta − cities.
Gamma level cities are cities that link smaller economic regions into the world economy and are classified into three sections: Gamma +, Gamma, and Gamma − cities.
Sufficiency level cities are cities that have a sufficient degree of services so as not to be overly dependent on world cities. This is sorted into high sufficiency cities and sufficiency cities.
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