Taipei has made it onto an “Emerging World Cities” list alongside four other cities, a research note issued by Jones Lang LaSalle Inc (JLL) earlier this month indicates.
In the Nov. 4 report, entitled Globalization and Competition: The New World of Cities, Taipei is named by the real-estate services firm in the “Emerging World Cities” category, along with Shanghai, Beijing, Dubai and Instanbul, Turkey, because of “long-term growth opportunities and increasing volume of real estate activity.”
According to JLL Taiwan managing director Tony Chao (趙正義), Taipei has attracted a high degree of global attention, because it ranks top in terms of public infrastructure, second in terms of higher education levels and seventh in innovation capabilities.
In addition, Taipei’s internationalized financial centers and good location have turned the city into a key hub for foreign investors aiming to tap the Asia-Pacific market, he said, ading that Taipei’s potential for development and its level of globalization are highly valued.
“But the rise of these ‘Emerging World Cities’ is uneven. Shanghai and Beijing, as well as Istanbul, Taipei and Kuala Lumpur, are fast-tracking to maturity, but others are struggling to keep up with the pace of change,” the report said.
Despite its endeavors to become a modern and developed city, Taipei still faces several challenges, among them issues with real-estate transparency, the continued inflow of foreign investment into the local real-estate industry, the recruitment of talent and skilled workers, environmental protection and establishing sustainable and resilient working and living styles, Chao said.
The report divides cities around the world into three groups: Established World Cities, Emerging World Cities and New World Cities.
The Established World Cities — the “Big Six” of New York, Tokyo, London, Paris, Hong Kong and Singapore — are set to maintain their dominance, but they will need to execute bold and ambitious urban transformation projects to accommodate growth and maintain their global competitiveness, the report said.
The Big Six account for more than one-fifth of total global real-estate investment activity, it said.
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