Xihu Cultural Park illustrates green environment and high-rise integration. (Changsha Evening Paper/Zou Lin)

The Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) Research Network published its Classification of Cities 2018 recently. Changsha, for the first time, was listed as a Beta- city.

GaWC has published eight reports since 1999, describing the world city network changes between 1998 and 2018. It classifies cities into four main levels: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Sufficiency, each with sub-categories marked with one or several plus or minus signs.

According to GaWC, the cities are assessed in terms of their advanced producer services, and classified into levels of world city network integration.

The Classification of Cities 2018, lists 55 Alpha (worldly first-tier), and 80 Beta (worldly second-tier) cities. Changsha was listed as a Beta- city, together with Manchester (U.K.), Stuttgart (Germany), and Geneva (Swiss).

In 2016, Changsha was once a Gamma (worldly third-tier) city.

GaWC evaluates cities using 13 criteria including: internationalization and world-wide recognition; important international airports as international aviation centers; and, world-famous cultural institutions, such as museums and universities.

Recently Changsha has made remarkable achievements in opening up and development, which raised its international profile. Beyond that, its profound culture, regional advantages, and convenient transportation also aided its jump in ranking.

Background information:

Alpha level cities are linked to major economic states and regions into the world economy, and are classified into four sections, Alpha ++, Alpha +, Alpha, and Alpha- cities;

Beta level cities are cities that link moderate economic regions to the world economy and are classified in three sections, Beta +, Beta, and Beta- cities;

Gamma level cities are cities that link smaller economic regions into the world economy, and are classified into three sections, Gamma +, Gamma, and Gamma- cities; and,

Sufficiency level cities are cities that have a sufficient degree of services so as not to be overtly dependent on world cities. This is sorted into High sufficiency cities and Sufficiency cities. (Source: Wikipedia)

Source: enghunan.gov.cn