In their article “The 20 cities of 2020” Stefan Linssen and Christopher Sindik present a method for evaluating the cities taking sustainability to the next level and creating specific plans that will have them improve their overall status as a Global Sustainability Center by the year 2020.
While the article mentions the variety of factors that were considered, it is not clear what the evaluation methodology or how the scores were assigned, but there are plenty of notes about the various initiatives underway to make these cities worthy of their inclusion in this ranking.
Here is the list of the top 10 as ranked by their average score in 2020.
London – 9.3
New York – 9.28
Singapore – 8.85
Toronto – 8.75
Melbourne – 8.51
Curitiba – 8.3
Abu Dhabi – 7.96
Frankfurt – 7.9
Hyderabad – 7.63
Cape Town – 7.2
With such favorable prospects on any one of these cities, it may be worth investing a little time scouting them to become more intimate with their rhythm of life.
Continuing with the annotation of the special report on cities by The Economist. If you haven’t, please read part 1 first.
Failures at the top: concludes that the single most important factor contributing to the success of a modern city is its government. All great cities, or cities that have gone through important renewal were characterized by influential thinkers taking the lead with passion.
In the 1980s Chicago lost companies, jobs and people, and seemed destined to languish in gradual decline in much the same way as Cleveland, Detroit and Pittsburgh. But energetic government led by a mayor, Richard Daley, whose ambitions start and end with his home town, has truned the city round.
My post on big city refers to the efforts of Mayors in some of the largest cities around the world, but I believe in the ability of the common citizen to commit her energy to improving our city life. If you don’t believe it, just check the manifesto for global cities in which I account of a small group of bloggers in Pittsburgh contributing great ideas to turn their city round.
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