Sweet home Chicago! We made it onto the list of “The Most Influential Cities” in National Geographic’s December 2011 issue. Landing at number 6 on the 2010 Global Cities Index by management consulting firm A.T. Kearney, Chicago was one of three U.S. cities making the list of top 10 most influential cities in the world. The Index ranks cities based on their scores in five areas: political engagement, cultural experience, information exchange, human capital, and business activity. Out of those key areas, Chicago’s top trait is its human capital, which is not surprising considering our diverse culture and top university, meaning Northwestern University (alright, let’s include the University of Chicago as well). Chicago moved up two spots on the list since the 2008 Global Cities Index due to two of the key areas: business activity and cultural experience. Since 2008, Chicago has had “an increase in firms listed in the Fortune Global 500, more business conferences and a higher rank in air freight” and moved up 10 spots in the cultural experience dimension.
