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This curated collection of published or publishable content authored by LAI members showcases our industry’s best thought leadership. Articles and excerpts share a wealth of knowledge — from industry trends and academic research to expert perspectives.
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Bringing Together
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keynote test 15
October 14, 2025
With the publication of my book on Boston and the Making of a Global City, the first question LAI-Boston members are asking me is: how do you determine what a “global city” is? I answer by explaining that the term, which has been in use since the 1980s, is a way to identify the urban command-and-control centers of globalization, which has been integrating most of the world into a single capitalist market. These “global cities” are nodes in networks of investment, trade, knowledge exchange, telecommunications, transportation, travel, and migration. The measure of a global city is the extent of the international networks with which it is connected. Global cities are resolutely competitive, as they all are striving to be more prosperous, influential, and attractive.
The great financial centers of New York, London, Paris, and Tokyo, which offer the broadest range of business services, are at the apex of this urban hierarchy. As the economies of China and the rest of East Asia have grown, Beijing, Shanghai, and Seoul have also assumed positions of primacy. In the U.S., Los Angeles is a focal point for entertainment, technology, and shipping, while Chicago remains a leading business, trade, and manufacturing center.
Boston is one of the foremost hubs of technological innovation, higher education, and healthcare, along with San Francisco-Silicon Valley, Seattle, San Diego, Toronto, Paris, Beijing, and Tel Aviv. These knowledge-economy cities are creating new products and services that are driving economic development. They have the best educated workforces and the highest productivity levels. These cities are frequently moderately-sized and, because of their wealth, have a desirable quality of life. Boston’s cutting-edge educational and medical institutions, dynamic entrepreneurs, highly-skilled talent, astute investors, and supportive government and professional organizations have made it a global leader in life sciences, information technology, robotics, 3-D printing, and climate/clean tech.
Oxford Economics (2025) ranked Boston the #8 “global city.” With its tech innovation economy, Boston has achieved a metropolitan GDP of $650 billion (#13 in the world). In recognition of Boston’s intellectual capital and the leading roles played by MIT and Harvard, the World Intellectual Property Organization ranks it #6 in the world for patents and scientific papers. Bloomberg has reported on Boston’s success in attracting venture capital, ranking only behind San Francisco and New York (2021) in the U.S.
