Are the books that you're thinking of all modern?

Historically, yes. Paris has been a centre of learning for centuries as home of one of the top European universities, for example. I'm not so sure about New York, but I'm pretty sure that it was a very crucial port, historically? Formerly New Amsterdam- and that's important because around the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the Dutch were incredibly dynamic traders. London: captial of England and again, formerly the key port. London and Paris were both royal seats.

Personally, I think that (among Western cities), the answer is in historical wealth. Cities that were key as ports attracted merchants. Cities that were seats of royal power also attracted merchants and artisans etc. to provide culture. So as these cities grew to unprecedented population and wealth levels, they became centres of history, of art, of learning... and this has carried on.

Compared with the rest of the world? Historically of course there was shared learning. Many individuals did travel outside the global west. But I wouldn't say that 'people look up to the West' in such a bland way. The West dominated and colonised much of the world, and this includes in culture. Western beauty standards are celebrated, western values held up, western art and learning more widely known and translated and celebrated. It's insidious, but it does exist. So within Western media, places in Asia or Africa (for example) are generally known less and automatically celebrated less. It doesn't help of course that far more people outside the West learn English than we do other languages, like Asian languages.