Cities in lower-income countries are rapidly catching up with the world's top business capitals, according to a new report.
Chicago-based consulting firm A.T. Kearney is predicting the next generation of global cities, based on the speed with which they are catching up to world capitals. The "Emerging Cities Outlook," released Monday, analyzed 34 cities in low- and middle-income countries, measuring development in business activity, innovation and ability to attract people to live there.
"As physical distances become less relevant and global competition intensifies, cities in low- and middle-income countries will increasingly jockey for position with one another and with cities in higher-income countries," Andres Mendoza Pena, a coauthor of the report, said in a press statement.
The Emerging Cities Outlook is part of a wider report on the world's most globally-connected cities, measuring them by business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience and political engagement. New York, London and Paris took the top spots.
Bloomberg notes that the top-tier cities have remained fairly static since the index started in 2008, making Beijing's entry into the top 10 this year an indicator of the Chinese capital's remarkable rise. "As a whole cities are improving, so they all need to run to keep up," Mendoza Pena told the news agency.
Take a look below for the report's top 10 emerging global cities, and find out which metropolis is the fastest-rising star.
