Real Estate consultancy Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL) released its annual Globalisation and Competition: The New World of Cities report which saw Bangkok rank in the top ten emerging world cities. Thailand’s capital performed well in several leading indicators including human capital, innovation and manufacturing.
The top ranked emerging city in the world according to the JLL report was Shanghai with Beijing finishing in second and Dubai completing the top three. JLL added that several cities in Southeast Asia and the Asia Pacific region could be set to compete with or overtake some of the more established regional powers including Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Sydney and Seoul were noted as the most likely to break into this group by JLL but Shanghai and Beijing could soon be on this level too with both cities considered to be nearly emerged. Several other cities like Jakarta, Manila, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok are on the fringes as well.
“Our research shows that a new world order of cities is evolving, with several emerging cities ready to break from the pack,” Rosemary Feenan, director of Global Research Programmes at JLL, said. “In Asia in particular, there are strong challenges to the old order from agile higher-value emerging cities like Bangalore, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.”
The reported added that several cities across Southeast Asia have improved over the past few years and look ready to make a significant jump in the rankings. Chris Fossick, managing director for Singapore and Southeast Asia at JLL, told The Nation that over the last few years, emerging Southeast Asian cities had made significant progress and increased their presence in the global scene.
Jakarta and Manila both have a large domestic market and the strong economic growth in each country has caught the attention of global investors, according to Fossick. He added that Kuala Lumpur has and will continue to strengthen its position as a major city in the fast-growing Southeast Asian region but all three face concerns about their governments which could see them fail to reach their potential.
