Sydney's is recognised as Australia's only global city. With 30 per cent of national employment in financial and business services, nearly half of Australia and New Zealand's top 500 companies, and more than 60 per cent of Asia Pacific regional headquarters established by multinational companies, Sydney is Australia's unrivalled global gateway.
Sydney is Australia's largest regional economy-comparable in size to Singapore's economy and larger than New Zealand's. Sydney has a dominant role in Advanced Business Service exports. It hosts almost half the export supported jobs in this sector, a proportion well above the city's share of national employment (22 per cent).
Because of its strategic location on the Pacific Rim, its liveability, its stable governance and investment climate and its human resource base, Sydney is a key player in global supply chains and a major hub in the Asia-Pacific.
Sydney competes with other major cities in the region but it is the only centre which is part of a developed national economy.
However, Sydney was not always Australia's premier city. Melbourne was prominent in the 19th century and early 20th century on the back of the gold rush. However, with deregulation of the economy, the entry of foreign banks and the consolidation of the Australian stock exchanges in Sydney, the city pulled ahead of Melbourne in size and wealth.
Sydney's natural attributes are key attractions for economic activity and investment that has driven the growth of the city to its prominent national and international role. The combination of big city infrastructure, services and amenities, with an unrivalled natural beauty, is Sydney's competitive edge.
Brisbane and South East Queensland, with an almost continuous strip of urban development running over 200 kilometres from Tweed Heads to Noosa Heads, has many of the basic attributes which are attractive for global investment and it will be incre! asingly competitive. Other cities in South East Asia will also! compete for investment as they modernise their infrastructure and education systems and as their economic, legal and political systems develop.
From this perspective, protecting the natural environment, access to the beaches and parks and important rural activities and rural living environments are as important to Sydney's competitiveness as continuing to invest in education, social, transport and cultural infrastructure.
GLOBAL CITIESA global city is a city which has a direct and tangible impact on global affairs through socioeconomic, cultural, and/or political means'-source GaWC-the Globalisation and World Cities Research Group, based at Loughborough University, UK.
The global cities ranking is based on each city's provision of advanced producer services such as accountancy, advertising, banking/finance and law, as well as the need to satisfy most of the following criteria:
- international familiarity;
- active influence and participation in international events and world affairs;
- a fairly large population, at least several million;
- a major international airport;
- an advanced transportation system;
- international financial institutions, law firms, corporate headquarters and stock exchanges that have influence over the world economy;
- advanced communications infrastructure;
- a lively cultural scene; and
- influential media outlets with an international reach based in the city.
- The following list and Figure 9 show the latest ranking by the GaWC of the top 55 global cities according to the above criteria.
A. ALPHA WORLD CITIES
1. London, Paris, New York, Tokyo
2. Chicago, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Milan, Singapore
B. BETA WORLD CITIES
3. San Francisco, Sydney, Toronto, Zurich
4. Brussels, Madrid, Mexico City, Sao Paulo
5. Moscow, Seoul
C. GAMMA WORLD CITIES
6: Amsterdam, Boston, Caracas, Dallas, Dusseldorf, Geneva, Houston, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Melbourne, Osaka, Prague, Santiago, Taipei, Washington
7: Bangkok, Beijing, Montreal, Rome, Stockholm, Warsaw
8: Atlanta, Barcelona, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Budapest, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Miami, Minneapolis, Munich, Shanghai