The Most Dynamic Cities in the Post-Crash World

Many of the cities included in the list are surprising, as are some of the cities -- and entire continents -- that are missing.

"Grading each metropolis by the growth of its income* and employment, the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program found that the world's fastest recovering cities are overwhelmingly in three key areas: China and India, Southeast Asian islands, and Latin America. Only three cities from what economists consider the developed world appeared on the list: Montreal, Austin and Melbourne. There are no European cities in the top 30. There are no African cities outside Egypt in the top 50.

'We were especially interested in the emergence of Latin American capitals, so we took a close look at Lima, Peru [number 5],' said Alan Berube, research director at the Metropolitan Policy Program, who wrote the report with LSE Cities."