Creative Class

Paris is tops; London, next; with Barcelona in third. Berlin. Amsterdam. Munich, Stockholm, Prague, Rome, and Athens round out the top 10 European city brands, according to this new ranking (via Planetizen).

What do you think?

Immigrants to Canada appear to be heading west, and gaining economically from the move, according to a new report from the Association of Canadian Studies. The Globe and Mail reports:

While Toronto remains overwhelmingly the dominant hub for newcomers, its proportion of Canada’s total annual immigrant intake dropped to nearly one-third in 2007 from half in 2001. In contrast, the numbers settling in western cities such as Calgary, Edmonton, Regina and Saskatoon have increased every year in the past five years.

In 2005, the average annual income for an immigrant family in Calgary was $102,118, which is $33,000 more than in Montreal, $22,000 more than in Vancouver and $12,000 more than in Toronto … The average income was $92,932 in Regina and $91,356 in Saskatoon … The wage differential between non-immigrant families in Toronto – who earned on average $139,926 a year – and those born elsewhere was 55 per cent. In contrast, the gap narrows to 33 per cent in Calgary, where non-immigrant families earn on average $136,380, and 19 per cent in Edmonton. In Regina and Saskatoon, non-immigrant families actually earn 1 per cent less on average than their immigrant counterparts.

A great article from an upcoming issue of Macleans magazine on “Canada’s Smartest Cities” research done by the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) indicates which cities offer the most opportunities – with Ottawa and Victoria topping the charts. Calgary is labeled as the country’s most cultured city with Guelph taking the prize as the most caring city. Check out the rankings and experiment with the interactive mapping of more than 4,700 cities conducted by the CCL here.

Why should you care how smart your city is? According to the CCL, having more opportunities for lifelong learning can mean “higher wages, better job prospects, improved health and a more fulfilling life.

The CCL’s index is created with data from 25 indicators, which in turn are grouped into four pillars of learning, originally developed by the United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The four pillars are: Learning to know, Learning to Do, Learning to Live and Learning to Be.

Thumbs up to Bert Sperling and Kevin Stolarick for their insights provided in the article. Oh, and watch out Canada… Who’s Your City: The Canadian Edition is coming to a bookshelf near you in March of next year, chalk-full of analysis and rankings on Canadian cities.

What do you think makes a city smart? Is it cultural opportunities, volunteer activities, workplace training? Or are there other elements that rank high on what you believe a smart city should be?

A new, international version of the popular board game ‘Monopoly’ is out next week.

The new version of the game has 22 international cities included. The most heavily represented nations are (drum roll please!) – Canada and China. Three cities each from each of those two nations are among 22 selected by more than five million fans of the game who voted online for the best cities.

Of these, Montreal received the most votes and will be paired with Latvian capital Riga as the most expensive property group on the board. Next in rank are Capetown, Belgrade, and Paris. Last-placed of the 22 was Poland’s Gdynia and no German, Indian, Russian, or Scandinavian towns made the list.

Click here to see if your city made the cut. What cities do you feel are missing from Monopoly’s new international edition? Which places would you include?

Canada is upping its game in the global competition for talent, liberalizing immigration for students and skilled workers. As the Globe and Mail reports, the country

is creating a new fast-track immigration route for skilled foreign workers and students who’ve already proved employable in Canada: an effort to prevent an erosion of talent as global competition heats up for higher-value labour.

Unlike existing programs, the Canadian Experience Class immigration stream will make work experience in this country a key criterion for vetting applicants. It will also allow temporary foreign workers and students living here to apply from within Canada rather than having to leave first. It’s expected to grant permanent resident status to 12,000 to 18,000 economic immigrants in the first year, a figure that’s forecast to rise to 25,000 annually over time …

The goal is to improve the quality of immigrants and retain the most valuable workers and educated students: arrivals who’ve already proven they can integrate into society and meet labour market needs. “If we’re going to compete internationally for the best and for the brightest, we need to improve the way that we attract and retain those who want to work in their fields and contribute to Canadian society,” federal Immigration Minister Diane Finley explained.

In Flight, I argued it would be just these sorts of incremental improvements in competing for global talent – by Australia, the UK, New Zealand, and northern European countries, as well as the ability of the BRICs to lure back emigres – that could begin to undermine the U.S. lead in global talent. And with the situation in Iraq, the sub-prime meltdown and credit crisis, not to mention a watershed election, the U.S. seems incapable of addressing this issue.

Do you think the U.S. will be able to turn the corner on this one, or will some combinations of other nations inexorably undermine its long-standing talent advantage?

Next week’s Economist Magazine has a great feature on the world’s most competitive cities.

New York is the world’s most competitive city, according to the Global Urban Competitiveness Project. The study ranks 500 cities on their ability to attract and use resources to generate wealth. The cities are assessed on nine measures, including income, economic growth, innovation, jobs, prices and the presence of multinational firms. The report found that the gap between the best-performing cities and the worst is widening. Indeed, there is a fairly large gap between the top two cities, New York and London, and Tokyo in third place. Cities in Europe and North America are richest, but China has the fastest-growing ones. Asian cities also score highly in patent registrations and attracting multinational companies.

Not surprising that NYC, London, and Tokyo – the ’superstar cities’ – top the list and are going in the right direction. But what about the others? Emerging cities such as Dubai which would not have been found on this list a few years ago are climbing the ranks. What do you think it would take to get your city on this list?

National Geographic Magazine is out with its list of the ‘50 next great adventure cities’ (h/t Zoe B).

Selection criteria included both outdoor offerings and urban settings with job variety, cultural activities, and available green space. Sarah Tuff and Greg Melville from NGM write that: ” We looked for innovative towns that aren’t just prime relocation spots for now, but also smart choices for the future… Not only do the selected towns have the action, they’ve also got a plan.”

The top 12 picks, moving across the country are as follows

West Coast:

Seattle, Washington

Hood River, Oregon

San Francisco, California

Rockies:

Missoula, Montana

Ogden, Utah

Carbondale, Colorado

Central:

Grand Marais, Minnesota

San Antonio, Texas

East Coast:

Brattleboro, Vermont

Boston, Massachusetts

Islamorada, Florida

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Some familiar names on NGM’s list that mesh with our own rankings from Who’s Your City include San Francisco and Boston. What do you think about these adventure towns? Do you feel that any others should have made the cut? Would any of these cities be on your list of places to visit this summer?

Dear Rana,

“Are there any Richard Florida rankings of Canadian cities? Currently, I’m reading Richard Florida’s Who’s your City? book. It got me curious about what are his rankings of Canadian cities. I haven’t lucked out with searching for this information on Google. I did do a quick search on the Cyburbia Forums, but didn’t find anything. So, do any of you know anything about whether or not there are rankings of Canadian cities done by Richard Florida’s school of thought? I’d be somewhat surprise if there isn’t any as Richard Florida now lives in Toronto, Canada.”

The answer is YES! Coming to a town near you soon. The Canadian Edition of Who’s Your City? by Random House will be flying out of bookstores on March 10, 2009. Look for the ever so popular singles map, best cities list, and lots of other great data on Canada.

Rana

Send your questions on work, life, and play to rana@creativeclass.com

Technology is great. Ever since the telegraph, we have been moving toward a global technology. At the heart of this technology are people, cities, and the Creative Class. And what do people do? They act entrepreneurialy. That means they create. Like all great civilizations, cities are at the heart of it and creative people in cities are what drives this. We now have data on entrepreneurship in global cities: click here to read the report.

This is the first ranking of entrepreneurial cities in the world! Where does your city rank? How creative is it? WoW.

Forbes magazine’s report is out today with its list of the fastest-dying cities in America.

Youngstown, Canton, and Cleveland – Ohio cities – make up three of the top 10 on the list. Detroit and Flint, both in Michigan, made the rankings. Buffalo, NY, Scranton, PA , Springfield, Mass, Charleston WV, also make the cut.

Common elements among these cities: a declining population base, poor GDP growth, and unemployment that is higher than the national average.

What do you think? Do you equate death with these cities? What would you suggest to get these cities off the ‘dying list’ and into the ‘alive and kicking’ list?