Global Metropolis: Assessing Economic Activity in Urban Centres Based on Nighttime Satellite Images

November 24, 2009

by Richard Florida, Tim Gulden and Charlotta Mellander
Posted November 2009

Abstract:

This research provides new data and insight metropolitan areas worldwide. It summarizes new data, derived from satellite images of the world at night, to provide systematic estimates of the economic activity generated by cities and metropolitan areas worldwide. It identifies 681 global metropolitan areas each with more than 500,000 people. Taken as a whole, these large global metropolitan regions house 24 percent of world population but produce 60 percent of global output, measured as light emissions. Asia leads the way in global economic urbanization according to our findings, followed by North America, the emerging economies, and Europe.

Download this working paper.

About Charlotta Mellander

Charlotta Mellander is the research director at the Prosperity Institute of Scandinavia and close collaborator with Professor Richard Florida and Dr. Kevin Stolarick at the Martin Prosperity Institute in Toronto. Charlotta earned a Ph.D. in economics at Jönköping International Business School. Her dissertation examines regional attractiveness, the urbanization process, the importance of cities, and the relationship between the service sector and the market.

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