Abstract
Environment is one of the six analytical categories of the GPCI, which collectively establish the comprehensive power of a city. Among the other five categories of urban function, economy has the most direct relevance to environment. It is historically evident that the process of industrialization and urbanization has had an influence on the natural environment. However, the relationship between economy and environment is not necessarily a tradeoff although it has been often mentioned. The city’s ability to control and improve its environment is currently based on a certain economic capacity of the government and its citizens. Thus, the city’s relative performance in economy and environment may reflect its status in development. The balance between environment and economy in each city seems to reflect its positions in terms of economic development and environmental policies among Tokyo, London, Singapore, Geneva, Zurich, and Seoul.
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Notes
- 1.
The authors thank the Institute for Urban Studies, The Mori Memorial Foundation (IUS-MMF) for permission to use the GPCI data.
- 2.
The number of the GPCI’s target cities increased from 35 to 40 in GPCI-2012.
- 3.
Several other cities match one or more of these criteria but they are not included in the GPCI because of the lack of available indicator data.
- 4.
Among the 70 indicators, 59 are based on public surveys and statistics and 11 are based on the original surveys.
- 5.
In the case of cities where data for all indicators cannot be collected, the incomplete indicators are excluded and an average value for only those indicators for which data could be collected is calculated.
- 6.
The GPCI also rates the cities by an alternative “actor-specific” method, which measures the cities’ potential attractiveness to various urban subjects. For this method, cities are scored in terms of differently organized and weighted indicators typically preferred by city actors such as Manager, Researcher, Artist, Tourist, and Resident. The discussion in this paper is sorely based on the “function-specific” scoring.
- 7.
Professor Sir Peter Hall passed away in July 2014, soon after the original draft of this chapter was presented on the occasion of the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN) International Symposium in June 2014.
- 8.
In GPCI-2014, published in October 2014, the definitions and data sources of some of the Environment indicators have been changed from GPCI-2013. For example, Percentage of Paper Recycled indicator in GPCI-2013 is changed into Percentage of Waste Recycled in GPCI-2014. In this chapter, originally written in June 2014, the definitions and the results of GPCI-2013 are analyzed.
- 9.
Although the indicator of Water Quality may better fit in the indicator group of “Pollution,” it is included in the “Natural Environment” group to balance the number of indicators in the Environment indicator groups.
- 10.
In GPCI-2014, Tokyo’s rank in Environment drops to #9 mainly due to the modifications made in the Environment indicators.
- 11.
In the GPCI, GDP Growth Rate is defined as “compound annual growth rate for the most recent 5 years of real GDP for the target city” (IUS-MMF 2014).
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Ichikawa, H., Sasaki, K. (2021). Sustainability and Urban Functions from the Perspective of the Global Power City Index (GPCI). In: Muramatsu, S., McGee, T.G., Mori, K. (eds) Living in the Megacity: Towards Sustainable Urban Environments. Global Environmental Studies. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-56901-5_11
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