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• International familiarity (e.g., one would say Paris, not Paris, France).
• Active influence and participation in international events and world affairs.
• A fairly large population (the center of a metropolitan area with population of at least one million, typically several million).
• A major international airport that serves as a established hub for several international airlines.
• An advanced transportation system that includes several freeways and/or a large mass transit network offering multiple modes of transportation ( subway, light rail, ferry, bus).
• In the West, several international cultures and communities (such as a Chinatown, a Little Italy, or other immigrant communities).
• International financial institutions, corporations (especially conglomerates), and stock exchangeA stock exchange is an organization of brokers and investment bankers which has the purpose of providing the facilities for trade of company stocks and other financial instruments. Usually there is a central location at least for recordkeeping, but trades that have influence over the world economy.
• A variety of world-renowned cultural institutions and venues such as film festivalA film festival is a mostly annual festival showcasing films, usually of a recent date, sometimes with a focus on a specific genre (e. animation) or subject (e. gay and lesbian film festivals). The world's first major film festival was held in Venice in 1s and premieres, a lively musical scene, theatrical plays, art galleriesAn art gallery or art museum is a space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art, and usually primarily paintings and sculpture. It is also sometimes used as a location for the sale of art. Generally, the term art gallery is used to mean a building o and museums.
• World-renowned universities.
• A unique cultural air and sophistication produced by its inhabitants.
• High proportion of "non- chain" retailers and eateries, upscale boutiques and hotels, and trendy nightlife.
• Spectacular natural background and landmarkFor the group sometimes known as Landmark see Landmark Education Originally, a landmark literally meant a geographic feature, used by explorers and others to find their way back through an area on a return trip. In modern usage, it is anything that easilys.

Several powerful and influential media outlets with an international reach are based in the world cities, such as the BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation BBC is primarily a national publicly-funded broadcaster based in the United Kingdom, which also has some international services. Some of the international services (such as BBC cable TV in America, Canada and elsewhere, The New York Times, Le Monde, The Times, and Pravda. Many of these cities are renowned tourist attractions.

Some sources feel another requirement is to have hosted the Summer Olympics; however, this requirement would exclude New York, Madrid and other prominent cities that never hosted an Olympics.

In the Western World, New York, London, and Paris have been traditionally considered the "big three" world cities - not incidentally, they also serve as symbols of the global capitalism that won a definitive triumph at the end of the Cold War. However, most people have a personal subjective list, and any two lists are very likely to differ based on cultural background, values, and experience. Many inhabitants of the Pacific Rim would add Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, and Tokyo to this list. A devout Muslim, for example, might feel that Mecca is a world city, an Arab that Cairo or Dubai is one, an Australian that both Sydney and Brisbane are, all while rejecting the others' claims out of unfamiliarity or differing values.

In order to boost urban regeneration, tourism, and revenue especially in the wake of the massive decline of manufacturing-based economies and of decades of urban decay , the goal of building a world-class city has recently become an obsession with the governments and populaces of mid-size cities in the United States, such as Louisville, Columbus, Indianapolis, etc. Most of these would not be recognised outside the U.S. as "world cities" (even within the U.S., many of these efforts are seen as dubious). This phenomenon has also been observed in many other cities such as Sydney, Australia, Frankfurt, Germany, Toronto, Ontario, Canada which have recently emerged as large and powerful cities in mid sized countries.