Savills has named New York, Tokyo, London, Seoul, and Los Angeles as the world’s top five cities in its annual Resilient Cities Index. A resilient city supports the wellbeing and success of its residents and workers against the backdrop of economic, social, environmental and technological change. They are attractive to investors and occupiers, particularly as investment and business expansion criteria encompasses a wider range of factors, including ESG.

North American cities again dominate this year’s ranking with San Francisco, Boston, Toronto, Chicago and Atlanta also making the list. However, some Asian and European cities have gained ground, notably Tokyo (rising to 2nd), Seoul (now 4th), Singapore (6th) and Paris (7th). Toronto, Melbourne and Helsinki have risen by 16, 13 and 12 places respectively to make the top 20 this year.

Smaller cities (those with a population under 2 million) such as Wellington, Oslo and Edinburgh, have performed well in general, up on average six places, thanks to lower levels of pollution. These are also often located in countries with better environmental credentials, ambitious climate targets, good governance and inclusivity. 

In its 2024 Impacts programme, Savills examines 490 cities using metrics around four core areas: economic strength, knowledge economy and technology, ESG, and real estate investment. 

Paul Tostevin, head of Savills World Research and co-lead on the Impacts programme, says: “In 2021, world cities were still feeling the effects of the pandemic, including Covid restrictions, but we were just beginning to see a broader return to the city. The backdrop to the latest index is a challenging economic environment, limited real estate transactions, but global travel and migration back in full flow and ESG factors more important than ever.

“As a result, it’s clear that this year, mature, established cities in developed economies with security of title and good governance dominate the top of the rankings.”

Rasheed Hassan, Head of Global Cross Border Investment at Savills, adds: “There remains a strong correlation between economic fundamentals and overall resilience; in turn real estate investors are still focused on the bigger cities.

We expect another challenging year in economic terms, but an inflection in the prospects of many cities in 2024 as funding environments improve. Cities will remain the engine of global growth and we will see the start of a broad-based recovery in real estate investment volumes.”

Savills Resilient Cities Index: Top 20

Source: Savills Research