The cities investing in urbanisation around the world: Savills International
Savills International has taken time to take a close look at 12 leading world cities, particularly at urbanisation.
They all command world city status and attract, for different reasons, a wide variety of overseas investment while playing host to a wide range of international companies and enterprises.
"US real estate trends often lead the way for other parts of the globe and the repopulation, regeneration and city renaissance experienced in so many US cities over the past 20 years has been echoed in Europe and other ‘old world’ regions, while the urban growth in many ‘new world’ cities has tended to emulate an earlier, mid-20th century auto-oriented and high-rise US model of city-making," the report said.
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Source: Savills
The report noted the predominant theme in the West, or rather in the ‘old world’ – the pre 20th century cities of North America, Europe, Australia and Japan – has been the rediscovery of the city.
"Since the 1990s, patterns of depopulation dating from various points in the 20th century have been almost universally reversed in these old cities and businesses of many types have once again created revenues and wealth after previous decades of population decline, and in some cases, urban decay," Savills noted.
"The shift in city economies during the mid-1980s away from manufacturing and toward financial and business services made the location of goods and markets less important and once again put the interactions of people at centre stage.
"This has given cities a new currency: there is value in human interaction and the marketplaces that cities provide.
"Little wonder that London and New York rose from the ashes at this time to dominate the world city scene.
"This economic, geographical and financial phenomenon had big impacts on the real estate industry and these cities remain heavily invested by institutions, funds, private companies and individuals.
"In the 21st century, the emphasis on and need for human interaction on city streets is as great as ever."