TOKYO-- November 25, 2021 -- London, New York, Tokyo, Paris and Singapore once again emerged in that order as the world’s most comprehensively attractive cities in the Global Power City Index (GPCI) 2021 report. This report is published by The Mori Memorial Foundation’s Institute for Urban Strategies, a research body established by Mori Building, a leading urban developer in Tokyo. The GPCI-2021 did not show any significant changes in the top cities' rank, but the citywide lockdowns, travel restrictions, behavioral restrictions, and changes in work styles associated with the COVID-19 epidemic since early 2020 affected various indicators. This resulted in a marked impact on the dynamics of target cities.

Since 2008, the annual GPCI report has ranked 40 or more major cities in terms of their “magnetism” - their overall power to attract creative individuals and enterprises from around the world. Cities are rated on the basis of 70 indicators in six functions: Economy, R&D, Cultural Interaction, Livability, Environment, and Accessibility. In an effort to reflect changes in the conditions affecting global cities, the GPCI continuously fine-tunes its indicators and data-collection methods.

In the GPCI-2021, there are 19 indicators that are assumed to have been affected by COVID-19. (The details will be described later.) Each impact can be divided into four categories: Travel Restrictions, Business Activity, Working Style, and Urban Environment. In terms of Travel Restrictions, many cities experienced a decline in international air travel and passenger traffic, and cities with strong international networks were seriously affected in Accessibility and Cultural Interaction. In addition, economic stagnation had a negative impact on Business activities in many cities. On the other hand, COVID-19 has brought about some positive changes: improvements in working style and in the urban environment. In many of the target cities, the number of working hours decreased and workstyle flexibility appeared to improve. (The questionnaire evaluation of work flexibility improved.)