Global City Index

The Global City Research Institute is an LoN-sanctioned NGO that studies the relationships between world cities in the context of globalization. Based out of the School of Humanities and Sciences at Newton University in Alstin, United Republic, the GCRI has, since its founding in 1990, create the a biennial categorization of into "Alpha", "Beta" and "Gamma" tiers, based upon their international connectedness through a multitude of factors and variables.

GCRI Classification
The GCRI examines cities worldwide to narrow them down to a roster of world cities, then ranks these based on their connectivity through on 27 metrics across five dimensions: business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement, and are categorized as follows:


 * Alpha level cities are linked to major economic states/regions and highly integrated into the world economy. Alpha level cities are classified into four sections: Alpha ++, Alpha +, Alpha, and Alpha − cities.
 * Beta level cities are cities that link moderate economic regions to the world economy and are classified into three sections, Beta +, Beta, and Beta − cities.
 * Gamma level cities are cities that link smaller economic regions into the world economy and are classified into three sections, Gamma +, Gamma, and Gamma − cities.
 * Sufficiency level cities are cities that have a sufficient degree of services so as not to be overly dependent on world cities. This is sorted into High Sufficiency cities and Sufficiency cities.