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What does a lighthouse look like inside? Mark Constable of Hull knows.
Mark Constable of Hull always loved lighthouses & wanted to see the inside of one. His family & the National Park Service took him to Boston Light.
As a city, Boston still remains the crown jewel of Massachusetts.
And, according to a new report, it can also claim the title of one of the best cities in the world.
Boston ranked 11th out of 1,000 cities from around the world in a new report, the “Global Cities Index” by Oxford Economics, a United Kingdom-based economic advisory company. This is the company’s first time releasing the report.
The company’s report said that without a doubt Boston is a global powerhouse economically and in terms of human capital.
What were cities judged on?
Cities were ranked on five categories, which were weighted:
- Economics (30%)
- Human capital (25%)
- Quality of life (25%)
- Environment (10%)
- Governance (10%)
The governance category was not based on individual cities but rather on how the entire country placed, with New Zealand getting the highest score, followed by Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The United States received a governance ranking of 184.
How did Boston rank?
Each city was individually ranked on the four metrics. For example, New York had a score of 1 for economics, ranking first, while London scored 1 for human capital.
Boston ranked:
- Economics: 12
- Human capital: 97
- Quality of life: 123
- Environment: 237
- Governance: 184 (same for all U.S. cities)
Economics were broken down by:
- gross domestic product (GDP) size, growth and amount per person
- employment growth
- economic stability
- economic diversity
“As a hub for innovation and technology, Boston’s economy benefits from its large life sciences and tech sectors,” the report said. “These help the city achieve the 13th-largest GDP in the world, and the sixth-largest in per person terms.”
Human capital was based on:
- population growth
- the size of the foreign-born population
- the number of corporate headquarters (of the 2,000 largest corporations in the world)
- the ratio of working-age people (15 and up) to people 65 and older
- the number of universities weighted by their ranking
“The city’s universities foster a culture of innovation and cutting-edge research, bolstered by the many companies—particularly those in the healthcare and tech sectors—that are headquartered in Boston,” the report said.
Quality of life included:
- income inequality
- income per person
- how much people spend on housing compared to total income
- life expectancy
- average internet speed
- the number of recreational and cultural sites in a city, divided by its population
“Boston has very high levels of income inequality,” the report said. “The disparities facing the city’s residents extend to housing and educational opportunities as well.”
However, Boston’s Quality of Life score received a boost from the number of recreational and cultural sites in the city, many of which were intrinsic to Boston’s founding.
Environment score was based on:
- air quality
- intensity of greenhouse gas emissions
- frequency of natural disasters, such as floods.
- temperature anomalies
- rainfall anomalies
“And new research shows that many neighborhoods in Boston that were initially built on marshlands are sinking into the ground, compounding the issue of sea level rise already facing the city,” the report said.
Boston’s public transit system helped its Environment score in the report.
What cities did better than Boston?
Boston was beaten by some of the biggest cities in the world, including New York (ranked 1), London (2) and Tokyo (4).
New York ranked highly in economics. It was also ranked highly for human capital, with 4th for New York.
What cities ranked below Boston?
Of the few New England cities that made the list, Boston did the best.
Providence, Rhode Island eked into the top 100 with a ranking of 95. Worcester ranked No. 115.
No other cities in Massachusetts made the list.
Wheeler Cowperthwaite contributed to the writing of this article.
Rin Velasco is a trending reporter. She can be reached at rvelasco@gannett.com.
