Search

Objective: The objective of the article is to develop a methodology of city ranking based on the criterion of a city's brand image among its inhabitants. Research Design & Methods: The article discusses the utilization of the multi-criteria decision-making method (MCDM) to create a ranking of European capitals. It explores the significance of the decision-making approach in establishing a linear order among 28 capital cities within the European Union. The study employs the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) for evaluation purposes. By leveraging publicly accessible indicators that gauge the perception of various aspects of a city's brand by its residents, this method facilitates the generation of a comprehensive ranking. Findings: The top five positions in the ranking are occupied by the following cities: Brussels, Sofia, Berlin, London and Stockholm. Ljubljana, Prague and Helsinki were ranked lowest. Implications & Recommendations: The ranking built for the purpose of this article, has managerial implications. It can serve as a valuable re-source for territorial managers, communication experts, urban planners, and decision-makers involved in the cities' enhancement and promotion. By utilizing this ranking, they can gain insights into the level of attractive-ness and competitiveness of different cities. Furthermore, it enables them to establish measurable strategic objectives for the development of their respective cities. This information empowers these stakeholders to make informed decisions, implement improvements, and enhance the overall value of their cities. Contribution & Value Added: The article employed ideal solution-based multi-criteria decision-making techniques to evaluate the brand image of cities as perceived by their inhabitants. We selected seven criteria to build the ranking showing the diversity in terms of residents' satisfaction with living in the city in the following areas: environment and recreation, refinement and diversity, municipal facilities, public services, employment opportunities, cost-effectiveness, and security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of the article is to develop a methodology of city ranking based on the criterion of a city’s brand image among its inhabitants. Research Design & Methods: The article discusses the utilization of the multi-criteria decision-making method (MCDM) to create a ranking of European capitals. It explores the significance of the decision-making approach in establishing a linear order among 28 capital cities within the European Union. The study employs the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) for evaluation purposes. By leveraging publicly accessible indicators that gauge the perception of various aspects of a city’s brand by its residents, this method facilitates the generation of a comprehensive ranking. Findings: The top five positions in the ranking are occupied by the following cities: Brussels, Sofia, Berlin, London and Stockholm. Ljubljana, Prague and Helsinki were ranked lowest. Implications & Recommendations: The ranking built for the purpose of this article, has managerial implications. It can serve as a valuable re-source for territorial managers, communication experts, urban planners, and decision-makers involved in the cities’ enhancement and promotion. By utilizing this ranking, they can gain insights into the level of attractive-ness and competitiveness of different cities. Furthermore, it enables them to establish measurable strategic objectives for the development of their respective cities. This information empowers these stakeholders to make informed decisions, implement improvements, and enhance the overall value of their cities. Contribution & Value Added: The article employed ideal solution-based multi-criteria decision-making techniques to evaluate the brand image of cities as perceived by their inhabitants. We selected seven criteria to build the ranking showing the diversity in terms of residents’ satisfaction with living in the city in the following areas: environment and recreation, refinement and diversity, municipal facilities, public services, employment opportunities, cost-effectiveness, and security.

The object of the article is the formation of marketing priorities for the successful development of a domestic city. The subject of the article is analytical tools for modeling the city brand. The article analyzes the current problems of branding territories in the context of intensified competition for resources and factors of production in postwar Ukraine. The authors consider the city's brand to be a kind of unique resource that will play an important role in the competition of territories. That is why, in the process of post-war development of domestic cities, the strategic vision of which should be formed now, even before the end of the war, it is necessary to identify the elements of the urban environment that will form the basis of the city's brand. The need to develop a city's (territory's) brand, taking into account the new reality, actualizes the scientific search in this direction. The research methodology is based on the fundamental provisions of the theory of branding and spatial identification, as well as the theory of stakeholders and its working tool - stakeholder analysis. The peculiarities of identifying stakeholders in the city development, their systematization and assessment using the tools of stakeholder analysis are determined. The approaches to the formation, definition and organization of the needs of the territory, taking into account the strategic context, are substantiated. The formalization of stakeholder behavior practices through the use of theo- retical game models is recommended. The results of the analysis of the possibilities of using international ratings for the development of territorial (primarily urban) branding strategies are presented. The main trends in urban innovation, which focus on the creation of esmart cities in post-war Ukraine, are outlined. The results obtained outline a set of complementary analytical methods and tools, the practical use of which will make it possible to modernize the branding of domestic territories. The proposed approach to the formation of a city brand based on the introduction of stakeholder analysis with appropriate tools can play an important role as a basis for creating effective methods of territory brand management. As well as the formation of strategies for their development, taking into account the strengths and weaknesses and development potential for the growth of the welfare of the population of the territory and Ukraine as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Road traffic in urban areas is highly prone to the occurrence of road crashes, while crash severity level differs at the city level and in relation to the leading cause. In the case of urban sustainable environments, strategic planning and development measures have been implemented for safer mobility by effective traffic management and road user education. Still, in crowded cities, where mobility and transit traffic are major factors, road crashes are the antithesis of road safety and they occur in simple or complex circumstances mostly related to road users and road infrastructure. The aim of this study was to define the severity level of road traffic crashes in the cities of Romania during the reference period 2008 - 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, while highlighting the leading causes of road crashes in urban areas that determine their highest occurrence and severity level. Official crash data records provided by the general Directorate of the Romanian Police were employed. The general severity degree of road crashes was calculated, particularly in relation to the first five leading causes, and cities were ranked accordingly. Results are rendered at the local level, for all 319 cities and towns in Romania, by the five leading causes and by severity level, comparatively for the years 2008 and 2019. Synthetically, we pinpoint the Romanian cities that are most affected by this phenomenon. This could help local and national decision-makers direct their focus towards mitigating the negative effects of the frequent crash triggering factors, decrease road crash severity levels and create customized measures for better traffic management and increased road safety at the local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Economics & Environment / Ekonomia i Środowisko is the property of Fundacja Ekonomistow Srodowiska i Zasobow Naturalnych and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Aim/purpose – Saudi Arabia is rapidly urbanizing, where the number of urban residents, currently exceeds 80% of the population. Many cities in the country face challenges of sustainability, livability, resilience, and thus global reputation. Therefore, measuring city performance is crucial in assessing urban complexity in order to improve development potential. As stated in Vision 2030 of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, attempts at improving the global competitiveness and reputation of cities are of prime importance. This attempt aims at developing a culturally sensitive city ranking methodology, testing the method with relevant statistics, and presenting the preliminary results for further discussions, deliberations, and extensions.

With China’s rapid urbanization and rising living standards, the household sector has become the second largest contributor to urban carbon emissions and important pathway to achieve China’s carbon reduction targets. Based on data of Chinese Residential Energy Consumption Survey in 2014, this paper establishes standard households in 54 cities to identify the carbon emission characteristics and explores the emission reduction paths of urban households. We present evidence that rich households tend to increase their use of clean energy, low-income households will not completely abandon inferior energy because of their usage habits and costs and they always live in suburban areas and urban villages. Cities with high household carbon emissions are almost located in north of Huai River/Qinling Mountains line, while cities with low carbon emissions are mostly located around the line and which are mainly on the south side. Monocentric urban development patterns and frigid climates are easy to increase higher household carbon emissions. In this regard, policy makers should help low-income households to escape from inferior energy dependence, encourage the use of new energy vehicles and green housing technologies, introduce a two-part pricing system for central heating services and maintain relative balance of residential and public resources in urban planning.

As global livability rankings gain press attention and powerful influence with policy makers, we need an expanded critical debate on their context and problems. This essay narrates a brief history of three influential global livability rankings and critiques several major flaws in their criteria. We demonstrate how both Mercer and EIU’s business model dictates an artificial split between livability and the cost of living that has permeated current popular conceptualisations of livability, and focus on the lack of housing affordability as a ranking criterion. This essay evaluates top-ranked cities against perceptive and quantitative measures of housing cost, and shows how many of these cities share extremely high housing cost burdens. A just city should provide housing opportunities for all residents, not just the global elite for whom livability rankings were initially designed. Livability rankings, as currently conceptualised, distract from that goal.

Abstract: Cities can be severely affected by climate change. Hence, many of them have started to develop climate adaptation strategies or implement measures to help prepare for the challenges it will present. This study aims to provide an overview of climate adaptation in 104 German cities. While existing studies on adaptation tracking rely heavily on self-reported data or the mere existence of adaptation plans, we applied the broader concept of adaptation readiness, considering five factors and a total of twelve different indicators, when making our assessments. We clustered the cities depending on the contribution of these factors to the overall adaptation readiness index and grouped them according to their total score and cluster affiliations. This resulted in us identifying four groups of cities. First, a pioneering group comprises twelve (mainly big) cities with more than 500,000 inhabitants, which showed high scores for all five factors of adaptation readiness. Second, a set of 36 active cities, which follow different strategies on how to deal with climate adaptation. Third, a group of 28 cities showed considerably less activity toward climate adaptation, while a fourth set of 28 mostly small cities (with between 50,000 and 99,999 inhabitants) scored the lowest. We consider this final group to be pursuing a ‘wait-and-see’ approach. Since the city size correlates with the adaptation readiness index, we recommend policymakers introduce funding schemes that focus on supporting small cities, to help them prepare for the impact of a changing climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate mitigation and climate adaptation are crucial tasks for urban areas and can involve synergies as well as trade-offs. However, few studies have examined how mitigation and adaptation efforts relate to each other in a large number of differently sized cities, and therefore we know little about whether forerunners in mitigation are also leading in adaptation or if cities tend to focus on just one policy field. This article develops an internationally applicable approach to rank cities on climate policy that incorporates multiple indicators related to (1) local commitments on mitigation and adaptation, (2) urban mitigation and adaptation plans and (3) climate adaptation and mitigation ambitions. We apply this method to rank 104 differently sized German cities and identify six clusters: climate policy leaders, climate adaptation leaders, climate mitigation leaders, climate policy followers, climate policy latecomers and climate policy laggards. The article seeks explanations for particular cities’ positions and shows that coping with climate change in a balanced way on a high level depends on structural factors, in particular city size, the pathways of local climate policies since the 1990s and funding programmes for both climate mitigation and adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As global livability rankings gain press attention and powerful influence with policy makers, we need an expanded critical debate on their context and problems. This essay narrates a brief history of three influential global livability rankings and critiques several major flaws in their criteria. We demonstrate how both Mercer and EIU's business model dictates an artificial split between livability and the cost of living that has permeated current popular conceptualisations of livability, and focus on the lack of housing affordability as a ranking criterion. This essay evaluates top-ranked cities against perceptive and quantitative measures of housing cost, and shows how many of these cities share extremely high housing cost burdens. A just city should provide housing opportunities for all residents, not just the global elite for whom livability rankings were initially designed. Livability rankings, as currently conceptualised, distract from that goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Marketing Science & Inspirations is the property of Comenius University in Bratislava, Faculty of Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Ranking cities is considered an effective instrument to rate and qualify the specific image of cities and encourage them to define and improve sustainable development strategies, but it has also been criticized for generating biased outcomes. Recently, the number of rankings for inclusive cities is rising, in fact along with growing investments in inclusive city projects and initiatives. The inclusive city rankings have both the strength to enhance lesson-drawing and self-improvement and the weakness to exacerbate competition among un-equals. In this article, nine different ranking systems for assessing urban inclusion are scrutinized and compared. Based on relevant theory regarding inclusive urban development and ranking systems, a methodology to compare and assess ranking systems is established, building on different quality aspects. The findings indicate that although for most ranking systems much essential information to understand how they produce results can be retrieved, motivations for generating these inclusive city rankings can be moral, utilitarian, or a combination of both, and that evaluation methods and dissemination of the results sometimes lack transparency and timeliness. Some metrics are incomplete and/or biased toward specific dimensions and indicators. The consistency across the ranking systems in producing the best-performing cities is much stronger than that of the worst-performing cities. Moreover, an obvious developed-developing gap was observed in the sense that most high performers are in Europe and to a lesser extent Nord-America, while the bottom 25 % are primarily in developing countries. Finally, suggestions are given to make methodologies for inclusive ranking systems more transparent, comprehensive and less biased. • A methodology is developed to help analyze how nine ranking systems generate varied results as to the most inclusive cities. • An overview of the specific features, strengths and weaknesses of each of those nine city ranking systems. • Analyzing the five dimensions of the inclusive city ranking system: social, economic, political, environmental, and spatial. • An overview of which cities are top 25% and bottom 25% in terms of inclusion for all nine city ranking systems. • The outcomes of inclusive city rankings tend to reinforce existing stereotypes and partly depend on how it is funded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes dynamics of the population and its growth rates for the cities-regional centers of Ukraine in the post-Soviet period, their features and main trends were revealed. The ranking of the regional centers of the state according to the population in 1991 and 2017 has been carried out, changes have been analyzed. The regional centers of Ukraine have been mapped according to the indicator of population growth (in absolute and relative terms) for the period of 1991-2017. Grouping of regional centers of Ukraine in terms of population in 1991 and 2017 has been conducted and highlighted big, significant cities and cities-millionaires; composition of the selected groups and the changes occurred have been analyzed. The regional centers of Ukraine have been grouped according to the population growth rates, absolute population growth, duration of the period with the negative and positive dynamics of the population, the main trends in the dynamics of population during 1991-2017. A group of the regional centers of the state with predominance of the negative population dynamics has been highlighted, and within it – cities with constant decrease of population and a cities with an unstable decrease in population. Also, a group of the regional centers of Ukraine with predominance of the positive dynamics of the population has been highlighted, and within it – cities with stable increase in the population in the XXI century and cities with negative trends of the population in the last few years. The periods with the lowest and the highest growth rates of population of the regional centers of Ukraine in the post-Soviet period have been revealed. It has been determined which regional centers of Ukraine can be considered as «crisis» or «depressive» ones by the indicator of population losses during the years of independence.

This is an analytical study of the intensely debated concept of urban livability. The paper examines different literature or theoretical streams that contribute to the debate related to the notion of livable cities. It juxtaposes academic constructs from architecture and urban planning fields with the popular culture and web indices that rank cities according to their living standards, services, and international appeal. The study offers a comparative analytical assessment of these diverse approaches and lays out a nuanced understanding of urban livability that draws on the richness and diversity embedded in design, planning, and current ranking tools. The paper ultimately aims to shed light on the configurations, conditions, and processes that may enhance the livability of various urban settings. It integrates such disparate views into an interdisciplinary perspective of urban livability. While the bulk of this paper analyses relates to North American, European, and Australian cities, the concepts discussed pertain to urban livability on a global scale.

The article analyzes dynamics of the population and its growth rates for the cities-regional centers of Ukraine in the post-Soviet period, their features and main trends were revealed. The ranking of the regional centers of the state according to the population in 1991 and 2017 has been carried out, changes have been analyzed. The regional centers of Ukraine have been mapped according to the indicator of population growth (in absolute and relative terms) for the period of 1991-2017. Grouping of regional centers of Ukraine in terms of population in 1991 and 2017 has been conducted and highlighted big, significant cities and cities-millionaires; composition of the selected groups and the changes occurred have been analyzed. The regional centers of Ukraine have been grouped according to the population growth rates, absolute population growth, duration of the period with the negative and positive dynamics of the population, the main trends in the dynamics of population during 1991-2017. A group of the regional centers of the state with predominance of the negative population dynamics has been highlighted, and within it - cities with constant decrease of population and a cities with an unstable decrease in population. Also, a group of the regional centers of Ukraine with predominance of the positive dynamics of the population has been highlighted, and within it - cities with stable increase in the population in the XXI century and cities with negative trends of the population in the last few years. The periods with the lowest and the highest growth rates of population of the regional centers of Ukraine in the post-Soviet period have been revealed. It has been determined which regional centers of Ukraine can be considered as «crisis» or «depressive» ones by the indicator of population losses during the years of independence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is a critical challenge for cities, so urban communities are increasingly responsible for climate protection. Hungarian cities started thinking and acting to reduce their GHG emission and carbon footprint in the late 2000s. Thanks to the increasing focus on environmental issues and the European Green Deal, this process received a new impulse after 2018. In our research, we analyzed and compared the local climate strategies (LCSs) of 14 cities by scoring method to explore their goals and planned actions. In addition, we assessed the commitment of local governments and conducted 16 semi-structured interviews with city officials and experts to further highlight the challenges of climate protection. Findings reveal that the mandated climate planning process and the dependence on EU funds negatively impact the quality of the LCSs, with features and practices such as reverse mainstreaming and minimal room for maneuvering to make efficient climate actions at the local level. The common features of LCSs are the high degree of uniformity, the lack of local innovation, and in many cases, the lack of accurate detail that makes it doubtful that they can adequately fulfill their intended role. Instead, they create the possibility of drawing financial resources from the EU. • Weak participatory planning and missing familiarity of LCSs by the public. • Mandated planning of LCSs has a negative effect on the completed strategies. • Climate change planning and actions depends unilaterally on EU funding. • Local climate consciousness and planning complexity do not depend on city size. • Effective climate action requires greater decision-making autonomy at local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is an analytical study of the intensely debated concept of urban livability. The paper examines different literature or theoretical streams that contribute to the debate related to the notion of livable cities. It juxtaposes academic constructs from architecture and urban planning fields with the popular culture and web indices that rank cities according to their living standards, services, and international appeal. The study offers a comparative analytical assessment of these diverse approaches and lays out a nuanced understanding of urban livability that draws on the richness and diversity embedded in design, planning, and current ranking tools. The paper ultimately aims to shed light on the configurations, conditions, and processes that may enhance the livability of various urban settings. It integrates such disparate views into an interdisciplinary perspective of urban livability. While the bulk of this paper analyses relates to North American, European, and Australian cities, the concepts discussed pertain to urban livability on a global scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional development agencies (RDA) are the units established for accelerating regional development and increasing local capacity. They aim at activating the regional dynamics and to reduce the intra-regional and inter-regional development gap. In a region, each province may have a different development level. This would pose a problem for socio-economic development. In order to reduce the disparities among the provinces, financial support mechanisms of development agencies would be a beneficial influence only if supports are used with to correct strategies. In order to play a vital role to reduce intra-regional disparities, it is necessary to consider many criteria to categorise settlements in terms of socio-economic development. Some of these criteria are generally subjective and extremely difficult to express in numbers. However, fuzzy sets are a great help to decision makers in a prioritisation of provinces for public grants allocation process with linguistic variables and measurement challenges. In this study, a new city-ranking model has been proposed for development agencies operating in Turkey. To address ambiguities and relativities in real-world scenarios more conveniently, type-2 fuzzy sets and crisp sets have been simultaneously used in multicriteria decision making (MCDM) process of grants allocation. To illustrate the proposed model better, an application with real case data has been performed in the Middle Black Sea Development Agency in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frequent regional haze and fog episodes in China force the central government to adopt air quality as a key indicator to assess the performance of provincial and local governors. The 74 key cities have been selected as pilot cities to carry out real-time air quality monitoring according to the new ambient air quality standards, in which PM 2.5 is for the first time included as one of the six compulsory items. The air quality ranking of the 74 cities has been released in the monthly report by the Ministry of Environmental Protection since January 2013. This is the first official city ranking by air quality in China, which makes air quality to be an important aspect of city branding and city competition. The information disclosure puts political pressure on city and provincial governments as their air quality will be watched by the public and the media. The present study provides a review and analysis of air pollution in China from city scale to regional scale based on the monthly reports in 12 months from August 2013 to July 2014. The official air quality rankings of the 74 cities are discussed from the aspects of geographical location, economic development mode and regional air quality management. The air quality rankings of the 74 cities provide the evidence that improvement of air quality requires industrial restructuring and sustainable development strategy. In addition, joint prevention and regional emission control are also essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban marketing has recently been adopting the concept, and the label, of “second city”. However, this concept requires sharper theoretical definition in order to turn heuristic. Thus far, it has been conceived in relation to an “ideology of ranking”, strictly related to the worldview of post-modern globalization. A more fruitful definition of “second cities” results from Charles S. Peirce’s idea of secondness: a city is second to another not in quantitative, but in qualitative and relational terms. The semiotic model of Jurij M. Lotman offers a suitable methodology to analyse this relational definition, as it is exemplified by the case-study of the rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney. A historical survey of their relation shows that the latter progressively embraced an identity of “secondness” so as to successfully market an alternative vision of urban life. Melbourne therefore provides a model for non-quantitative construction of urban distinctiveness.

Media suggests that Leipzig has become "hipper" than Berlin. This article contributes to the scientifically undiscussed subject of a characterisation of a "hip city". Drawing on repertory grid interviews, the study describes the relevant attributes from an individual point of view. A "hip city" is varied in terms of cultural and leisure offerings, open and multicultural as well as green, offering multiple options to withdraw. A city ranking based on relevant attributes shows that despite differences in some characteristics Berlin and Leipzig are considered equally "hip". Finally, the used method is presented as a possibility to rank cities avoiding some weaknesses of existing approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ever-changing fortunes of cities across the world, along with the increasing competition between economic centers caused by globalization, has stimulated the interest and need for instruments allowing researchers to compare cities across a range of dimensions. The literature review indicates that not enough research has been devoted to develop multidimensional models for city evaluations and that the existing models are biased towards specific stakeholder interests and cultural worldviews, thereby being apt to produce inconsistent and contradictory findings. This state of affairs negatively impact marketers, ability to formulate city brand positioning strategies, which are based not only on aspiration but also on a nuanced understanding of the empirical reality of the city. Through a grounded analysis of 473 measures of a selected range of city-ranking indexes, this study identified 37 item categories and, through a grounded theory in-text verification process, a hypothesis of a total of 16 evaluative dimensions was proposed. The paper proposes this as a starting point not only for comparative research, but also for city brand positioning and the continued measurement of progress on the implementation of positioning strategies for cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] The paper classifies and reviews popular city indices. [•] The paper proposes a novel methodology to measure intangible capital as the growth capacity of knowledge cities. [•] The paper applies the proposed methodology in the European context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Indicators of smart transport should reflect smart capabilities in transport sub-systems. [•] A comprehensive framework for benchmarking smart transport cities is proposed. [•] The framework is illustrated by benchmarking 26 large cities across the world. [•] London, Seattle and Sydney ranked high in the illustrative example. [•] The framework allows comparative studies among cities in different transport systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the ranking of Polish cities in terms of tourism services and facilities, with a special attention paid to the business travel segment. Research is based on such criteria as the number of nights spent by foreign tourists, conference facilities and equipment in hotels and the number of medium and high quality hotels and accommodation options. First, a ranking of service and infrastructural quality in Polish regional cities was made and then used as a reference point in comparison to the ranking of global and European cities. In addition, the ranking was contrasted to the socio-economic development of Polish large cities. It was found that Polish cities offering the most developed medium and high standard accommodation base as well as a broad range of services for the conference and business meeting markets ranked also at the top of international rankings. In addition, no direct relationship between population of a city and the number of foreign tourists visiting a city or advancement in the development of the infrastructure and tourist services of these cities was found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article consists of two parts. In the first part, the author focuses on definitions connected with the creative sector in the form of creative industries and cultural institutions. In addition, the basic characteristics of the development of creative industries in large cities in Central and Eastern Europe are presented. The goal of the empirical part is the calculation of a comprehensive index based on collected data and the preparation of a cultural attractiveness ranking of regional capital cities in Poland. The analysis includes 18 cities, as two regions - Kujawsko-Pomorskie and Lubuskie - each have two capital cities. The research uses Hellwig's taxonomic method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper concentrates on the question of how cities cope with the results of national and international city rankings and how a specific ranking approach can be used as a strategic instrument for policy advice. Introducing this topic, the first section provides a discussion of benefits and limits of city rankings. Based on this discussion, a comprehensive city-ranking approach is developed, which tries to meet the requirements of knowledge-based economic urban development by defining and applying an innovative sample of indicators. Finally, the paper elaborates the meaning of city rankings as a knowledge-based instrument as well as the possibilities for cities to make use of ranking results. Answering these issues, the paper concludes with proposals for making city rankings a more significant and effective instrument for steering economic, social and spatial processes in cities: it suggests recommendations for researchers and analysts dealing with the design and methodology of city rankings, on the one hand, and for local governments and stakeholders concerning the reasonable handling of results on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing flow of people into cities causes several challenges for their functioning. This brings the need to ensure, for example, efficient transport, sustainable waste, and appropriate energy policy. Particularly capital cities are exposed to the above-mentioned risks, due to their large numbers and densities of inhabitants. Therefore, the state of the environment in cities should be monitored systematically. The research aim of this article is to evaluate the level of environmental sustainability in capitals of European Union countries. A synthetic indicator was made up of diagnostic variables, using quantitative and qualitative indicators relating to the quality of the environment. Based on the ranking, results reveal that Europe is spatially divided according to the level of environmental quality. The best results were achieved by capital cities of the northern European countries. The analysis presented here has some application potential. It can serve to identify challenges to improving the quality of the environment, and to raise public awareness of the importance of changing individual behaviour (e.g., use of public transport).

The question " which city is the greenest " sounds trivial, but in reality, this question contains statistical ambiguities. In this study, we approach this issue by ranking cities by green space shares. However, we do not base our ranking only on one green parameter and the commonly used administrative boundaries. Instead, we broaden access to rankings through several approaches: First, we calculate two parameters, i.e. green space shares and green space per capita. Second, we apply these parameters for two cases: for all green areas as well as for green areas with a minimum size of one hectare. The latter are considered to have an impact on near-home recreation and the local climate. Third, we relate these parameters on the one hand to administrative spatial units constituting the entity 'city', but juxtapose these on the other hand with two alternative spatial reference units: a morphological spatial unit that closely encompasses the built-up pattern of the city, and a standardized buffer unit around the city centers. The variability of these manifold rankings obtained by this study makes clear: the rank of one city in a relational system to other cities depends strongly on these parameters and spatial units applied. In our experiments we rank and compare the 80 major cities in Germany. The diversity of results allows to discuss the susceptibility of spatial statistics to ambiguities that may arise from the use of different concepts. By integrating these multidimensional concepts into one final ranking, we propose a strategy for a more holistic and robust approach while revealing uncertainties. • A multi-dimensional concept for the comparison of green spaces shares across cities. • A uniform data basis based on remote sensing data. • Systematic test of different green indicators and spatial reference units. • A critical discussion on city rankings and their spatial-statistical vulnerability and ambiguity. • a ranking of the 80 largest German cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study discusses the measurement of the global city with the primary aim to uncover the logical grounds to measure the features of "the global" in the study of ranking and comparing the cities. The study sets up a three-dimensional analysis framework with infrastructure (economy), fluidity (openness), and reputation (influence) for the basic dimensions of measurement for the global cities. Using this framework, the studies of top-10 Chinese cities in the global city comparison have been conducted with the data of cities' scores from various ranking systems. The resources used include the index of Globalization and World Cities, global urban economic competitiveness index, Economic daily and United Nations global urban sustainable competitiveness rankings. The study tests the effectiveness of this framework by illustrating the coherence and dissimilarity of this analysis with other city ranking systems, and further discloses the advantage of this indicator system. This study exposes the existing problems in the logic and rationale of the urban studies and establishes the basis of global city ranking, thus offering policymakers new perspective on the strategy of city development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]