Madrid makes the global top 25, but GDP sits in four districts

Madrid makes the global top 25, but the ranking never reaches the neighbourhood

Madrid now ranks among the world's top 25 cities according to the Oliver Wyman Forum. The headline is flawless for the institutional photo. But the economic reading doing the rounds among sceptical analysts tempers the triumph: the bulk of the city's GDP is concentrated in barely four districts, and the feeling in the rest of Madrid does not match the shine of the ranking.

The dilemma is laid out. Those who look at growth see business opportunities and jobs; those who look at their wallet see rising rents, wages that fail to keep up, and a quality of life that holds up better in mid-sized European cities, like Britain's, without having to fight for the city centre. The underlying question is not whether Madrid is a great global city, but for whom it is one.

Some point out that the concentration of activity also concentrates tax revenue and services, and that this eventually benefits everyone. Against them, the sceptical view reminds us that every year the city centre drifts further away for anyone who has not climbed aboard the bubble. The ranking's figures do not distinguish between the Madrid that invoices and the Madrid that works for an average wage.

International applause coexists with an uncomfortable question: how much of that global success is actually redistributed? If the model stays the same, the top 25 will keep climbing while local discontent does the same. Until the ranking shows up in the shopping basket, the triumph is only lip service.