Attractive sites for future investment Edinburgh and Glasgow have been named Europe’s top large “cities of the future”.

Recognised for their potential to pull in investment and secure expansion projects, the Scottish spots topped the list of “large European cities” – those with a population between 500,000 and one million.

In doing so they outstripped Amsterdam, Oslo and Helsinki.

The hotspots were recognised in the ranking of European cities in foreign investment publication fDi Magazine.

Edinburgh was also deemed to have the best foreign direct investment (FDI) strategy of all large European cities, trumping Leipzig, Glasgow and Krakow.

Edinburgh Council leader Jenny Dawe said: “Despite the global recession, Edinburgh has secured more new investment over the last three years than in the previous five.”

Birmingham was the only other large UK city in the top 10, in seventh place.

London, classed as a “major city” due to its population size, was named the top European city overall, ahead of Paris and Vienna.