MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Santiago, Lima and Monterrey, top three Latin American cities of the future

Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires ranked second and fifth in the economic potential category.

New York City followed by Chicago and Houston rank top in the first ever 'American Cities of the Future' ranking compiled by fDi Magazine, belonging to the Financial Times group. Santiago de Chile, Lima (Peru) and Monterrey (Mexico) snatched the top three positions in the Latin America city ranking.

The new ranking focuses on a mixture of data and expert opinion to rank cities which have the best prospects for inward investment, economic development and business expansion.

Cities based in the US and Canada dominated the overall American Cities of the Future rankings. The ranking combines a North American ranking with a new Latin American ranking by compiling research on over 400 cities from fDi Benchmark and fDi Markets database tools.

While New York City dominated the major city category, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, came top among the large cities

Santiago was crowned fDi Magazine's first 'Latin American City of the Future' for having attracted 84 FDI projects since 2003, with almost a fifth of these projects involving a capital investment of over 100 million US dollars.

Lima, Monterrey, Bogotá and San Jose de Costa Rica completed the top five Latin American Cities of the Future. Mexican cities made up four of the top ten cities in the Latin America category whereas the Colombian cities of Bogotá and Barranquilla also featured, ranking fourth and eighth respectively.

Although North American cities dominated many major city categories, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires held their own, ranking second and fifth respectively in the economic potential category.

Sao Paulo, Lima, and Buenos Aires ranked fourth, fifth and seventh in the business friendliness category.

Richmond, Virginia was the Best Small City with Santa Clarita, California, and Columbia, South Carolina ranking second and third respectively. Pilar, Argentina, Potosi, Bolivia, and Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina, ranked as the top three small cities in the cost effectiveness category.

Canadian cities dominated the quality of life category accounting for nine of the top ten micro cities in this category with North Vancouver coming out on top. The Costa Rican cities of Alajuela, Heredia and Santa Ana ranked as the top three most cost effective micro cities in 2011.