It’s hard to believe that there are other rankings of the world’s best cities that are as revealing as ours, but lo and behold, Resonance Consultancy’s annual ranking has just been announced, and it’s pretty comprehensive too.
Each year, the company analyses more than 270 cities with populations of at least one million to determine the top 100. They combined data and qualitative assessments with recommendations from locals and visitors on platforms such as TripAdvisor and Facebook to assess three core, overarching factors – ‘liveability’, ‘lovability’ and ‘prosperity’.
Liveability includes how walkable a place is, how close it is to the airport and the number of parks. Lovability relates to culture – the number of nightlife and restaurant spots, as well as Google and Facebook check-ins. Prosperity includes analysis of poverty rates, educational attainment and GDP per capita.
So where is the world’s best city? Well, for an impressive eighth year running, the answer is London, aptly dubbed the ‘capital of capitals’. The sprawling metropolis of the UK capital comes out on top for culture, with the highest number of performing arts and cultural venues recommended on TripAdvisor.
In fact, London tops the overall liveability and loveability charts, with its quick recovery from the pandemic and the revitalisation of its public transport system thanks to the opening of the Lizzie Line also contributing to its success.
In second place is Paris, conveniently ahead of the 2024 Olympics. The report highlights how the city is ‘future-proofing’ itself with exciting sustainability and investment initiatives. In third place is New York, which has seen a spectacular resurgence in tourist numbers, from 33 million in 2021 to a projected 61 million in 2023.
Tokyo is in fourth place, meaning that the top four cities in this list haven’t changed since last year’s ranking. However, Singapore has jumped from ninth place in 2023 to fifth in 2024, and it’s the second-highest ranking hub in the wealth category.The world’s best cities for 2024:
1.London, United Kingdom
2.Paris, France
3.New York City, US
4.Tokyo, Japan
5.Singapore
6.Dubai, United Arab Emirates
7.San Francisco, US
8.Barcelona, Spain
9.Amsterdam, Netherlands
10.Seoul, South Korea