Research into the competitiveness and performance of companies reveals that on a territorial level, there is today growing rivalry between countries and cities where firms are likely to establish themselves. The comparative analysis of the economic geography and functioning of the business real estate market in London, Paris, Madrid, Milan, Berlin and Amsterdam shows how, following the example of Paris, the central and historical areas of a city play a major role as the driving force in their respective economic attractiveness. However, it is in Paris that the economic, social and cultural polarisation is the most marked. Nowhere else is the economic centrality so well articulated with the urban quality: offering many important services, a wide diversity of companies, emblematic buildings; monumental structures, good transport service infrastructures and a concentration of decision-making places. The challenge Paris faces is to maintain these advantages. It is, therefore, a matter of preserving and strengthening its own urban qualities and taking inspiration from the “good practices” of its principal competitors which are proving successful in developing their tertiary sectors. This study was carried out in liaison with the corporate real estate research and consultancy firm, CB Richard Ellis Bourdais.