Global Culture » washington

2009 hub culture’s zeitgeist

juan — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 22:19:00 +0000

As we struggle to find ways to survive the current crisis and look at the leaders of the world to provide guidance, the latest Hub Culture 2009 Zeitgeist Ranking will come in handy as a tour of the cities that are better positioned to sustain an acceptable quality of life while providing plenty of opportunities to rebuild for the future. A zeitgeist reflecting the drama of our times:

Washington,DC

its not really about the Obamas – its about the context of our changing expectations of government

Berlin

Berliners become an enigma – povo at home, increasingly affluent abroad

Beijing

Just ignore the noxious skyline as you watch the GDP growth rates, still hovering near 9%

Los Angeles

LA’s fashion scene has stagnated, and the city’s hold on entertainment is slipping to diffusion by web 2.0

Tokyo

the principles of kaizen (continuous improvement) are shaping a really cool new Japanese ecovibe

Sydney

The general attitude down under appears to be one of distant concern

Saö Paulo

Here, ‘crunch’ is in the quinoa, not in the financial vocabulary

Hong Kong

The city is rich enough to sit out the bust, and it can always rely on China’s neighboring Guangdong province to drive the local economy

New York

Hunger breeds innovation, because people actually have to think, plot and scheme to make a difference, and are more likely to do it on a shoestring budget.

London

With large infrastructure projects on the horizon for the Olympics, nimble currency moves and a general stiff upper lip, the mantra now is survival and sobriety

Shanghai

China is one of the last places in the world still experiencing growth, and that means that the party is still in progress here on the Huangphu River

Mumbai

Clearly the November attacks had a large impact on the mood of the city, but they can’t dent the can-do spirit of average Mumbaikars

Singapore

Private wealth and trading (two of the city’s biggest focuses) are giving ground to medical tourism, biotech and other homegrown industries taking root with support from the government

Buenos Aires

international markets and visitors that provide an international feel to the city began to dry up

Dubai

Dubai’s taste for showcases, whether luxury, architecture or design, make the remaining grand opportunities here very interesting

Paris

The current mood is about refocusing on priorities, living life more simply and thinking deep thoughts. Where better than Paris?

Toronto

Canadian globe trotters are heading back home to Canada’s most influential business city as they check out of their stints abroad.

Istanbul

Looking ahead, the story of Istanbul is about youthful opportunity.

México, D.F.

a young population works in Mexico City’s favour, creating optimism and opportunity for the future, generated by an increasingly well educated and global population.

Copenhagen

the Danish way of life, from design to food, with a focus on streamlined simplicity, makes more sense than ever.

cities with most twitter users

juan — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 06:21:25 +0000

Continuing with the exploration of cities with a population actively engaged in global communications, here is a snapshot of the top 30 cities with most tweets (twitter messages) as calculated by TwitterLocal. The link presents the top 30 in the last 24 hours, here is a snapshot at the time of publishing:
167830

Tokyo – 13.5%
New York – 9.2%
San Francisco – 6.1%
Los Angeles – 5.9%
London – 4.9%
Washington – 4.1%
Chicago – 3.9%
Boston – 3.0%
Seattle – 3.0%
Sao Paulo – 2.7%

Other cities outside of North America included in the list: Osaka, Madrid, Sydney, Amsterdam, Paris, Melbourne, Berlin, Bangkok, Barcelona, Taipei, Santiago, Dublin and Caracas.

2008 global cities index

juan — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:52:18 +0000

In January of 2007 I posted the globalization index, a partnership between Foreign Policy magazine and A.T. Kearney. At the time the report listed the most globalized countries, led by Singapore, Switzerland and the United States. A few weeks ago I decided to once again fine tune the editorial line of this blog by dedicating more time to cover urban issues and the role of cities in the shaping of our global culture. So finding the Foreign Policy’s 2008 Global Cities Index serves to reinforce the recent spirit of this blog.

The methodology to rank the cities includes 24 metrics in five dimensions:

The first is business activity: including the value of its capital markets, the number of Fortune Global 500 firms headquartered there, and the volume of the goods that pass through the city. The second dimension measures human capital, or how well the city acts as a magnet for diverse groups of people and talent. This includes the size of a city’s immigrant population, the number of international schools, and the percentage of residents with university degrees. The third dimension is information exchange—how well news and information is dispersed about and to the rest of the world. The number of international news bureaus, the amount of international news in the leading local papers, and the number of broadband subscribers round out that dimension.

The final two areas of analysis are unusual for most rankings of globalized cities or states. The fourth is cultural experience, or the level of diverse attractions for international residents and travelers. That includes everything from how many major sporting events a city hosts to the number of performing arts venues it boasts. The final dimension— political engagement—measures the degree to which a city influences global policymaking and dialogue. How? By examining the number of embassies and consulates, major think tanks, international organizations, sister city relationships, and political conferences a city hosts.

The complete ranking breaks down the position of each city in each dimension, but here is a preview of the overall winners:
New York – London – Paris – Tokyo – Hong Kong – Los Angeles – Singapore – Chicago – Seoul – Toronto – Washington – Beijing – Brussels – Madrid – San Francisco

The index, a collaboration between Foreign Policiy, A.T. Kearney and The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, includes a few other features such as how to be a global city, the placement of the 19 megacities in the index, the massive role of Chinese cities, an unexpected relationship between most global and cleanest urban centres and more.