j_cuevas713 Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 (edited) https://www.spottedbylocals.com/blog/alpha-beta-and-gamma-cities/ We dropped a level back to Beta+. We were Alpha- for a couple of years 😔 Philadelphia and Seattle surprised me as Beta cities. Boston jumped from Beta+ to Alpha-. What could be the causes of this? Are Austin and Dallas having a greater impact on the entire state and more? Will the new transit lines help us jump even higher? Edited January 26, 2023 by j_cuevas713 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 9 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said: https://www.spottedbylocals.com/blog/alpha-beta-and-gamma-cities/ We dropped a level back to Beta+. We were Alpha- for a couple of years 😔 Philadelphia and Seattle surprised me as Beta cities. Boston jumped from Beta+ to Alpha-. What could be the causes of this? Are Austin and Dallas having a greater impact on the entire state and more? Will the new transit lines help us jump even higher? "Finally the all-important caveat: the GaWC method of measuring the world city network produces theoretically informed, empirically robust assessments of cities in globalization. But it measures just one process in city development: the servicing of global capital. As shown, London and New York are the supreme archetypal cities in this regard. But, as we have also seen, the failure of Berlin has shown that the world city network can never be a collection of mini-Londons and little New Yorks. All world cities will have mixtures of cutting edge economic functions but these need not just be advanced producer services. The key is to find economic niches but without being vulnerable to economic specialization (Turok 2009). Milan and its design portfolio, Singapore and its logistics portfolio, Los Angeles and its entertainment portfolio and, outside the alpha cities, Houston and its energy portfolio, are each important examples of world cities despite their contrasting positions in the world city network (Taylor 2005). However, whatever the niches, cities WILL need to have a sufficiency of advanced producer services so as not to make it too overtly dependent on London, New York and their rare ilk. Thus within the world city network as conceptualised by GaWC, there will be ‘global cities' in the original sense of Sassen (1991) focusing on advanced producer services, as well as numerous other cities with varying sufficiency in advanced producer services. GaWC network connectivities and the resulting levels of integration into the world city network represent just one process, albeit especially global in scope, among many that constitute contemporary cities in globalization." 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 (edited) I've always thought that way too much attention is paid to the GAWC World Cities rankings. Its measurement seems very narrow and therefore of very limited usefulness. Edited January 26, 2023 by Houston19514 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattyt36 Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 13 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said: Will the new transit lines help us jump even higher? Yeah, that'll definitely do it. Nothing like a local BRT line to elevate a city's ranking largely measuring trade and degree of globalization. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_cuevas713 Posted January 26, 2023 Author Share Posted January 26, 2023 1 minute ago, mattyt36 said: Yeah, that'll definitely do it. Nothing like a local BRT line to elevate a city's ranking largely measuring trade and degree of globalization. Appreciate the sarcasm and condescending response. I was genuinely asking because I don't fully understand how they measure this year to year. Thanks though 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattyt36 Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 1 hour ago, j_cuevas713 said: Appreciate the sarcasm and condescending response. I was genuinely asking because I don't fully understand how they measure this year to year. Thanks though 👍 @Montrose1100 summarized it 4 hours ago, Montrose1100 said: But it measures just one process in city development: the servicing of global capital. If transit is included somehow in the above, I assume only from the perspective of trade value (e.g., purchasing more rolling stock). The truth of the matter is Houston's economy has not been a great performer pretty much since the JCPOA with Iran was signed and became effective on 1/1/16--ESPECIALLY when compared to Dallas and Austin. We're now starting year 7 of this post-oil-bust period and have lost a lot of ground. As I recall, we used to have the fourth (or maybe even third) largest gross regional product of any US MSAs, which meant we really punched above our weight as being only the 7th largest by population. We've fallen quite a bit. If this index relies heavily on trade value, I would expect that value to vary considerably based upon the price of oil. I'm sure next year we'll go up in the rankings (or whenever it measures 2022 data. Your article is dated 2/17/22, with data delays, especially when considering the fact that one has to get data from however many countries, I have a feeling it was probably based on 2020 data.) 2 hours ago, Houston19514 said: I've always thought that way too much attention is paid to the GAWC World Cities rankings. Its measurement seems very narrow and therefore of very limited usefulness. Most of these rankings seem to me to be one-dimensional but boy do they make good clickbait. The truth of the matter is Houston is widely known as the "Energy Capital of the World," which should be more "revealing" than any of this sort of measurement--try filling in the blank for "__________ Capital of the World" with Dallas, Austin, Philadelphia, etc. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hbg.50 Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 15 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said: https://www.spottedbylocals.com/blog/alpha-beta-and-gamma-cities/ We dropped a level back to Beta+. We were Alpha- for a couple of years 😔 Philadelphia and Seattle surprised me as Beta cities. Boston jumped from Beta+ to Alpha-. What could be the causes of this? Are Austin and Dallas having a greater impact on the entire state and more? Will the new transit lines help us jump even higher? This “downgrade” happened some time ago. I kept my mouth shut because I am a shameless Houston booster! 😂 I think DFW passed us up or achieved parity. 😡 Let’s wait for the next favorable ranking! These things come and go… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Dogs Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 16 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said: https://www.spottedbylocals.com/blog/alpha-beta-and-gamma-cities/ We dropped a level back to Beta+. We were Alpha- for a couple of years 😔 Philadelphia and Seattle surprised me as Beta cities. Boston jumped from Beta+ to Alpha-. What could be the causes of this? Are Austin and Dallas having a greater impact on the entire state and more? Will the new transit lines help us jump even higher? Subscribed & following this thread! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editor Posted February 4, 2023 Share Posted February 4, 2023 On 1/25/2023 at 11:36 PM, j_cuevas713 said: We dropped a level back to Beta+. We were Alpha- for a couple of years 😔 Philadelphia and Seattle surprised me as Beta cities. Boston jumped from Beta+ to Alpha-. You know how you know that you're an Alpha city? When you don't notice or care if someone ranks you or not. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NB_Brendan Posted February 5, 2023 Share Posted February 5, 2023 Yea, I can't take this seriously. Putting us behind cities like Sydney, Milan, Jakarta, etc. is laughable. Every other city in the world would be lights out without the energy capital baby! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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