The World's Favorite Cities

by ryan | March 4, 2008 at 09:37 am

4691 views | 17 Recommendations | 31 comments

Home is where the heart is. Or is it? What makes a city great? Annually, Simon Anholt tries to answer that question in his 'City Brands Index'. Here's a link to the full report. It's important to note though that this index isn't about quality of living but rather a mixture of global perceptions, policies, products, and tourist attractions. Not surprisingly, Sydney, London, Paris, Rome are in the top. Only 1 US city is in the top 20. Do you agree with the ranking?

Top 10:

1. Sydney 6. Melbourne

2. London 7. Barcelona

3. Paris 8. Vancouver

4. New York 9. Amsterdam

5. Rome 10. Montreal

Simon Anholt has released his third annual global City Brands Index based on a survey of 10,000 people world-wide. I like it because it's less a study of branding strategies, and more of the how various cities are perceived by people around the world.

Overall the list jibes with my intuitive assessments. Sydney takes the No. 1 spot, followed by London, Paris, NYC and Rome. Canadian cities do well: Toronto is 11th, but Vancouver is 8th and Montreal is 10th. Melbourne, Barcelona, Madrid, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Milan, Berlin, Geneva, Brussels, Auckland and Tokyo all make the cut.

NYC is the only US city to place among the top 20. Three Canadian cities, two Australian cities, two from Spain and two from Italy. I know the Bush years have run down the US brand overall, but I thought its major cities were still doing OK. Not a good sign for America at all.