OREANDA-NEWS. October 18, 2012. Moscow moves up one spot from last year to finish 20th overall in 2012, just under Shanghai, in the fifth edition of Cities of Opportunity, released by PwC and the Partnership for New York City. The edition studies 27 centers of finance, commerce and culture, reported the press-centre of PwC. 

In the economic clout category Moscow enters Top-10 cities ranking 8th. In terms of FDI and economic growth, Moscow attracts a striking amount of FDI, ranking 5th in capital investment, ahead of both Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi, and 7th in the number of Greenfield projects, just behind Beijing and Paris and ahead of New York and Tokyo. The city also hosts the 8th largest number of Global 500 companies, ranks 11th in major construction activity and ranks 12th in real GDP growth.

In terms of sustainability indicator, Moscow ranks comfortably in the top 10 in sustainability and the natural environment despite its famously epic winters, tying Paris for the 7th spot. Its famous parks and legendary public transit reinforce its commitment to sustainable growth. Specifically, the city ranks 3rd for its proportion of public parks, just behind Stockholm and Paris and ahead of New York and San Francisco, scores 8th for the low cost of its public transport, 9th for its transit coverage.

In the 2012 rankings, Cities of Opportunity reports Moscow is in the top 5 in higher education. Given its history and traditions, it is not surprising that Moscow does well in several variables measuring educational achievement, including a #1 ranking in classroom size, a #5 rank in libraries open to the public, and, above all, another #5 ranking in proportion of population with higher education. The highly educated population of Moscow is undoubtedly among the reasons the city also ranks 4th in broadband quality—ahead of most cities, including both Los Angeles and New York —and 7th in software development and multimedia design.

According to the ranking, Moscow is a city with increasingly global appeal. Moscow makes the top 10 in 4 of the 6 variables in the city gateway indicator, from hotel rooms and international tourists to aircraft movements and passenger flows.  The latter is a new indicator category that measures a city’s global connectedness and attraction.

Finally, Moscow is one of the more expensive cities in our report, ranking 9th in the cost indicator, with the 9th highest cost of rent and 5th highest cost of business occupancy. More important, the city’s low scores in the indicator measuring health, safety and security are not representative of the Russian capital’s global reputation and prestige. At the same time, these results suggest areas where Moscow could be enhanced as a city to live and do business in.

“It`s definitely a positive sign for Moscow to demonstrate move up one spot from last year in the present Cities of opportunity ranking. Moscow`s economic growth, technological readiness and high educated population must contribute to its further success in this cities ranking. Meanwhile, the necessity of improving infrastructure issues, business environment as well as city`s global connectedness are evident and crucial to Moscow image and global reputation in the future”, - comments Ekaterina  Shapochka, Government & Public Sector Services Leader in PwC Russia

Meanwhile, New York and London finish in a virtual tie to lead overall scoring. However, emerging cities are narrowing the gap within key economic indicators. Both Shanghai and Beijing finish in the Top 5 in City Gateway and Economic Clout, with Beijing leading the latter category.

While New York officially edges out London by one point across 10 economic indicators, the city wins in no individual category. Toronto, which finishes third, also shows great balance yet wins no category. London, however, takes the lead in city gateway, an indicator introduced this year that measures global interconnectedness and international attraction. Rounding out the leaders are Paris, which advances four spots from 2011 to number four, and Stockholm at number five.

In addition to looking at the current performance of  27 cities at the center of finance, commerce and culture, the study for the first time analyzes city employment in the most significant and telling job sectors and projects the trajectory of the cities in jobs, productivity, and population  to 2025.

"Cities succeed when they invest in core needs important to both people and businesses," said Bob Moritz, PwC's US Chairman and Senior Partner. "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.”

The Cities of Opportunity key indicators and top three cities in each are:

Intellectual capital and innovation: Stockholm, Toronto, Paris

Technology readiness: Seoul, San Francisco, New York

Transportation and Infrastructure: Singapore, Seoul/Toronto (tied for second), Tokyo

Health, safety and security: Stockholm, Toronto, Sydney

Sustainability and the natural environment: Sydney, San Francisco/Toronto (tied for second), Berlin

Economic clout: Beijing, Paris, London/New York (tied for third)

Ease of doing business: Singapore, Hong Kong, New York

Cost: Berlin, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur

Demographics and livability: Paris, Hong Kong/Sydney (tied for second), San Francisco

City gateway: London, Paris, Beijing

Emerging Cities Advance

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 for “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.

Where the Jobs Are
For the first time, the 2012 report provides an in-depth look at some of the most significant and telling job sectors, now and looking ahead to 2025. The financial and business services, manufacturing, and wholesale and retail sectors anchor many city economies in 2012.  Financial and business services when grouped together account for more than a third of the jobs in Milan, Paris, London, Beijing, San Francisco and Stockholm. One in three Shanghai jobs today is in manufacturing, although the study projects the city shifting to a more diversified economy by 2025. Wholesale and retail make up more than 20 percent of the workforce in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Moscow, Mumbai, Mexico City and Istanbul.  New York leads the world in healthcare employment with nearly 16 percent of its workforce in the field. Hospitality and tourism accounts for over a quarter of the jobs in Abu Dhabi.

Our Cities Tomorrow
Future employment and economic risks for the 27 cities are pinpointed in a new section that projects a 2025 baseline scenario and several “what if” models, including:

If knowledge, technology and travel connections determine future success—placing London, Tokyo, New York, Seoul and Paris among the leaders;

If protectionism spreads as a way to counter lingering slow growth, where all cities suffer; and

If quality of life drives city economies, a world in which the beauties of Stockholm, Sydney, Paris and San Francisco fuel strong growth in the percent of annual GDP

The study's baseline scenario projects that by 2025 an additional 19 million individuals will live and 13.7 million will work in the cities. They will generate an additional USD 3.3 trillion in gross domestic product—all predicated on a world of modest growth.  At the same time, the wealth divide will remain much the same in 2025 as it does today. Population and employment will surge in cities like Beijing, Mumbai, Istanbul and Sao Paulo. Mature cities will maintain greater spending power, and the consumer and corporate demand, that drives emerging economies. Mutual self-interest would logically unite emerging and mature cities as one side continues to need the other.

Despite the rise of emerging cities in key indicators, Cities of Opportunity details some of the long-term challenges facing developing cities due to rapid population and employment growth. For example, both Beijing and Shanghai will need to devote roughly 42 percent of GDP to infrastructure between now and 2025 to accommodate growth while cities like London and New York only need to invest 17 percent and 20 percent, respectively.

The full report, along with in-depth interviews with E.O. Wilson, emeritus professor of entomology at Harvard, Bill Bratton, former New York and Los Angeles head of police, and other leaders are available at http://www.pwc.com/cities.