Of the 13 African cities included in management consulting multinational Kearney's 'Global Cities 2021' report, Johannesburg retained the highest ranking at 55, while Cairo climbed five places to 59.
Cape Town, however, ranked seventy-seventh last year but dropped four places to 81 in the latest ranking.
“Even with some of the bigger African cities dropping position, we see from this year’s results the divergence in the trajectories of the most economically-advanced cities and those in developing and emerging regions, which largely showed improvement over the previous year,” says Kearney partner Prashaen Reddy.
Addis Ababa moved up eight places, propelled by Ethiopia’s development investments that have supported rapid economic growth.
Comprised of the Global Cities Index (GCI) and the Global Cities Outlook (GCO), the report reveals that the leading global cities have been resilient and adaptable, despite initially being hit hardest by Covid-19, because of their high connectivity and density.
It provided a stark snapshot of a volatile, increasingly fragmented environment characterised by fierce competition among cities for status, a situation acutely exacerbated by the pandemic.
"Just as they led the global pandemic response, cities are now poised to lead the global recovery, however unsteady and uncertain as it may be," Reddy says.
The Kearney Global Cities report outlines five strategic imperatives to drive recovery and highlights ways cities can address the challenges they share.
Cities must win the global competition for talent, much embrace the rapidly growing digital economy, ensure economic resilience by balancing global and local resources, adapt in the face of climate change and invest in individual and community wellbeing, the report states.
"Human capital is the driving force behind a city’s economic activity. Further, cities that harness the benefits of the global digital economy to drive differentiated competitive advantage will accelerate economic growth," the report notes.
Further, in the absence of globally unified leadership on the topic, cities, which are responsible for more than 70% of global carbon emissions, must lead the way in driving sustainability.
Cities must also recalibrate the optimal balance of trade and economic relationships at global, regional and local levels to be resilient to future disruptions, as the fragility of the global trade system was exposed in the early months of the pandemic.
"Additionally, cities must focus their investments on advancing the wellbeing of their populations and strive to develop an environment in which innovation can thrive," the report states.
“In the coming year, we expect the divergence among global cities to widen. While global cities that are already showing signs of economic recovery are likely to continue their upward trends, lower-scoring and less-connected global cities will likely drop in our rankings next year as the full effect of the pandemic is reflected in the metrics used for measurement, particularly given the uneven distribution of vaccines around the world," says Reddy
“Nevertheless, the unprecedented global efforts in vaccine development and production have hastened a return to some form of normalcy, partial and fragmented as it is. As cities enter this new phase, they are armed with real-world experience and better science, enabling leaders to better navigate the ongoing turmoil.”
The data used in the report, though largely collected from 2020 and early 2021 publications, provides a view of the impact of the first year of the pandemic. It also sheds light on the different recovery trajectories across the world’s global cities.
The report offers key insights into how Covid-19 and the resulting pandemic containment measures impacted the level of global engagement of 156 cities around the world.