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.
Wilderness? Only 10% of the land area is remote – more than 48 hours from a large city
A recent study by the Global Enrironment Monitoring unit of the European Commission has produced a very interesting visualization of how accessible areas around the world are. Representing in brighter yellow colours those areas that are just a few hours away from a major city and darker red colours those that can only be reached after days of travelling, the map clearly conveys the simple fact that there are very few regions in the world that are truly isolated.
 Produced by GEM As I start to structure the notion of a slurb, one element to consider is how far away would you be willing to travel. Most tourists will assume a half-day for their journeys, a couple of hours getting to the airport and waiting for a flight, four to eight hours on a plane and maybe another hour getting to the final destination. The end point will usually be another major city or tourist destination with decent road infrastructure.
But knowing that there are very few places in the world that are more than a couple of days away from “civilization” you could easily add another day to your journey to venture into a less accessible location, leaving behind most tourist traps and blending with the local scene. All this without risking too much as you would still be “near” a major city. All of the sudden the possibilities are endless.
The journey may end up costing more because you need to make arrangements for a car or a driver, but it is likely that settling in a remote community away from the tourist buzz will also drive your accommodation costs. Of course it now makes sense to stay longer. In fact, it makes sense to travel not only for vacations but the reconnect with your creative self, that part of your mind that needs to slow down and retreat in a quiet place to invent and define your next few months of greatness.
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:
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- 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.
Further to my last post on accelerating innovation, and after reading a post on Facebook users by country I thought a bit of research was pertinent. Based on my own survey using Facebook itself, here is a list of some of the cities with the highest percentage of facebook users:
- Montreal – 35.2%
- Sydney – 28.4%
- Toronto – 24.7%
- London – 22%
- Hong Kong – 18.9%
- New York – 17.4%
- Singapore – 14.1%
I had to remove from the list other potential candidates where Facebook didn’t breakdown their user base by city; cities in northern Europe and South America among them. Any feedback or inquiries on other cities are welcome.
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.
After Catenary pointed out a quote from Kennedy, I got curious and found the snippet of his first major campaign speech on March 18, 1968. The original post in AlterNet.org “Robert F. Kennedy Challenges Gross Domestic Product” contains a small video illustrating his words:
Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our Gross National Product, now, is over eight hundred billion dollars a year, but that GNP — if we judge the United States of America by that — counts air pollution and cigarette advertising and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and the cost of a nuclear warhead, and armored cars for police who fight riots in our cities. It counts Whitman’s rifle and Speck’s knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children.
Yet the Gross National Product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.
GDP Update: in 2005 (most recent data available) the GDP in the USA was almost twelve and a half trillion dollars. Even after adjusting to “constant” US$ the most recent GDP would be over 3 times that of 1967.
I owe a big apology to all my loyal readers for keeping you in the dark over the last 3 months. Since my last post I travelled to Mexico twice, shared the stage in San Francisco with some of the authorities on the “geoweb”, travelled to Corsica, the French Riviera, Lake Como, St. Moritz; and managed to launch PlanetEye.com where I lead the Technology team. Intense to say the least. But the most recent issue of Monocle has me burning the proverbial midnight oil and finding energy to start posting regularly again. Thanks for your comments while I was away.
 The Monocle Global Quality of Life Index may one day graduate to adopt a scientific methodology that considers a larger spectrum of cities around the world, but I’m happy to settle for their current coverage and play the my-city-is-better-than-yours game, using the tidbits of quick facts they’ve compiled. For those who don’t buy the magazine here are the top 10 cities:
- Copenhagen, Denmark
Good looks, brains, perfect proportions, a sunny disposition and a sense of humour are always a winning combination…
- Munich, Germany
It combines a strong economy with rich cultural offerings. The city’s workforce is highly qualified; its universities world class. And if the walls start closing in you’ve got the Alps on your doorstep.
- Tokyo, Japan
… a new generation of well-travelled, job-hopping twenty and thirtysomethings who are changing Tokyo, challenging stereotypes…
- Zürich, Switzerland
The city’s world-class education facilities and cultural offerings, great local public transport and well-connected airport mean it can satisfy even the most demanding employees.
- Helsinki, Finland
Waterside revival, civic pride and a view to Asia bode well for the city…
- Vienna, Austria
Don’t be deceived by Vienna’s apparent bourgeois rectitude…
- Stockholm, Sweden
… with its archipelago, pristine parks and old architecture, is pretty as a princess cake – the Swedes’ favourite birthday treat.
- Vancouver, Canada
By accepting increased building density as official city policy, Vancouver believes it is leading the continent in addressing climate change.
- Melbourne, Australia
its economy is humming, its arts scene is thriving, and more than 1,000 new people a week are calling the city home.
- Paris, France
…it is setting benchmarks in urbanism that have officials from around the world heading to meet mayor Bertrand Delanoë.
Sydney, Honolulu, Madrid, Berlin, Barcelona, Montréal, Fukuoka, Amsterdam, Minneapolis, Kyoto, Hamburg, Singapore, Geneva, Lisbon and Portland follow the leaders.
But the ranking is just a great marketing tool. Much more interesting and relevant to the readers of this blog are the articles “Thinking cities” which collects ideas from some of the best recognized urban thinkers; and “Perfect neighbourhood”, a redux of their ideal borough dream from last year. More on this in upcoming posts.
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