New York, Tokyo, London, Seoul, and Los Angeles hold the top spots in Savills yearly Resilient Cities Index. Singapore has impressively climbed to 6th place from 12th in 2021. Tokyo and Seoul are other Asian cities making significant strides, securing 2nd and 4th places respectively.
This year’s index is again dominated by North American cities, with San Francisco, Boston, Toronto, Chicago, and Atlanta all featured. Paris makes the list at 7th place. Remarkably, Toronto, Melbourne, and Helsinki have each jumped up the list by at least a dozen spots to secure their top 20 statuses.
What are Resilient Cities?
What defines a resilient city is its capacity to uphold the prosperity and wellbeing of its residents and workforce, even when faced with economic, social, environmental, or technological changes. These cities remain appealing for investors and businesses, especially as considerations for investments and business growth now include an array of factors, such as ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance).
Savills’ Impacts programme for 2024 explores 490 cities, assessing them based on economic stability, technological advancement, ESG, and real estate investment potential, as the metrics behind the resilient cities index.
Paul Tostevin, Head of Savills World Research and co-leader of the Impacts programme, mentions, “In 2021, cities worldwide were still grappling with pandemic effects, such as Covid restrictions. However, we began to witness a resurgence of city life. The most recent index is set against tough economic circumstances and reduced real estate transactions, but with global travel and migration resuming and ESG considerations being more crucial than before.
“As a result, this year, it’s evident that well-established, mature cities within developed economies, possessing secure property rights and effective governance, are at the forefront of our rankings.”
Singapore’s rise in the resilient cities rankings has been attributed to an increase in its population and work opportunities offered in the city. The city has managed to maintain steady real estate investment volumes despite the widespread economic challenges and global downturn. Its competitive tech sector, with venture capital (VC) investment rising from $8.2 billion in 2021 to $9.4 billion in 2023, places Singapore in a favourable position moving forward – even with a decline in global VC funding.
Alan Cheong, Executive Director, Research & Consultancy at Savills Singapore, suggests, “Over the next decade, we anticipate Singapore’s ranking will continue to rise once the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) Master Plan 2025 – which includes Urban Resilience as a principal theme – becomes law following public consultation.”
Jeremy Lake, Managing Director of Investment Sales & Capital Markets at Savills Singapore, expects, “This year, we might see increased investment deal volumes as the market regains momentum. There is anticipation for activity across various asset types, with Singapore’s reputation for safety, political stability, and economic resilience drawing greater interest from investors.”
