Cities and business
City Mayors reports on how business developments impact on cities and examines cooperation between cities and the private sector

Business Improvement Districts
are unashamedly business-led
16 January 2010: As cities and towns become ever more populated, the debate on the way they are managed takes on an increasing urgency. With so many other priorities for the public purse the prospect of identifying a variety of income streams is attractive. One mechanism for so doing are Business Improvement Districts (BIDs). More

London, Paris and Frankfurt remain
Europe’s favourite business cities
28 October 2009: London continues to be rated as the leading European business city in 2009. Paris is again ranked second but the gap between it and London has widened. Frankfurt remains the third most favoured city. 'Easy access to markets, customers or clients' is now regarded as the most important factor when deciding to locate a business, replacing the availability of qualified staff. More

German and Nordic cities perform
well in European economic report
25 October 2009: Munich has supplanted London from top place in the annual European Regional Economic Growth Index (E-REGI). It is the first time a German city heads this ranking. The effect of the financial markets and banking sector travails have not affected London’s high rating in most measures of city performance but it has caused a significant slide in the E-REGI from first in 2008 to eighth in 2009. More

New York City prepares for
revival of financial markets
20 February 2009: New York City wants to be in pole position when global financial markets start to revive. Proposing eleven initiatives to retain and promote financial companies and institutions, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the financial services meltdown was a global problem, not one that any city or even nation can solve on its own. "And although we can’t predict exactly what its revival will look like, we’re confident the sector will come back. When it does, cities around the world will compete to capture the jobs it brings.” More

London remains number one
but the future belongs to Asia
10 June 2008: London remains the world's best financial and commercial city, the future, however, appears to belong to Asia and Eastern Europe, whose cities represent the fastest rising world regions in the latest commercial and financial research by MasterCard. Shanghai had the largest jump in overall rank - moving eight places from 2007 to 2008 - bringing it into the top 25 of this year's index and demonstrating the growing importance of Asian cities to a progressively urbanized global economy. More

Matsuyama banks on tourism
and information technology
10 May 2008: The tourism hotspot of Matsuyama in southern Japan has forged a reputation as an early adopter of optical capabilities in local industry and town planning, earning it the designation IT Business Model District by the central government. More

American metro areas remain nation’s
economic engine but new jobs pay less
America’s metropolitan areas are responsible for more than 86 per cent of US GDP, says a report published for the US Conference of Mayors in January 2006. However, unlike states and nations, metro economies are primarily defined and shaped by the nature of their economic activity. For example, New York was well known for its financial industry, Boston for its high-tech industry, and Detroit for the automobile industry. Indeed, most major industries in the US started in cities, including automobile manufacturing (Detroit), television (New York), and personal computer manufacturing (San Jose). More

Eight cities in final round
to become ‘British Vegas’
Eight British cities and towns have made it into the final round of bids to build the country’s first ‘super-casino’. Of 27 applicants, the final eight will have to make a further case to be chosen as the site for Britain’s only Las Vegas-style unlimited gambling hotspot. The already unsuccessful candidates expressed dismay at the decision of the government’s new Casino Advisory Panel, though 16 licenses for smaller casinos will also be awarded. More

Even hurricane seasons can’t stop
Florida cities from powering ahead
For the second year in a row, Florida’s cities have been named as the top job-creating metropolitan areas in the US. Even severe hurricane seasons could not stop Florida’s growth trends. The state’s metro areas hold not just the America’s top three slots, but five of its top six and 12 of its top 30 places. More

Large US cities suffered
most in recent recession
Large US metropolitan areas were particularly hard hit by the recent US recession. Cities like Los Angeles, New York and Chicago all lost more than 100,000 jobs between March 2001 and November 2004. A full recovery to pre-recession employment levels is not likely to occur before 2007. More

Mercer survey:
Tokyo is most expensive city in the world
with London being the costliest in Europe
For the third year running, Japan’s capital Tokyo is the world’s most expensive city. Osaka, the country’s third-largest city, is in second place. London, which occupied the number two spot in 2004, is placed third in 2005, followed by Moscow, which also drops one place. Asuncion in Paraguay is the least expensive city in the world. More

UBS survey:
London is the most expensive city in the world
while Swiss cities are home to highest earners
London is the most expensive city in the world due to the UK capital’s high cost of renting accommodation. If rents are excluded, Oslo, Copenhagen, Tokyo and Zurich are among the most costly cities in the world. Meanwhile, as the US dollar has lost value, US cities have become cheaper since 2003. The highest gross wages are paid in Scandinavia and Switzerland. The city with the highest gross wage level is now Copenhagen, ahead of Zurich, Basel and Oslo. But owing to higher taxes and social security contributions, the Scandinavian cities have all moved down the rankings on net wages. More

EIU survey
Oslo joins the group of most
expensive cities in the world
Deciding on which is the world’s most expensive city is a little bit like choosing between the merits of various world heavy weight boxing champions. Until recently the choice has been between Tokyo and London. But in its latest ‘Worldwide cost of living survey’ the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) says Oslo had overtaken Tokyo as the world’s costliest city. On the other hand, Mercer Consulting still places Tokyo at the top of its table, with Oslo being ranked 10th, while the Swiss Bank UBS puts London in first place, followed by Oslo, New York and Tokyo.

Cologne starts China Offensive
to attract tourists and business
The City of Cologne together with the Cologne Tourist Board, the Cologne Trade Fair, the Cologne/Bonn Airports and the Cologne Chamber of Commerce have embarked on a joint initiative to attract more Chinese companies and visitors to the city. Cologne hopes to double the number of Chinese business investors as well as to increase the number of tourists from China. The intention is to strengthen Cologne’s role as a gateway to Germany and Europe for Chinese tourism and business. More

New York, Hong Kong and Paris are home
to world's most expensive shopping streets
New York’s Fifth Avenue, Causeway Bay in Hong Kong and the Champs Elysées are the world’s most expensive shopping streets. New York City shopping streets make up the top three places of the American top ten of most expensive locations. In addition to Fifth Avenue, the city boasts East 57th Street and Madison Avenue as prime retail streets. The European top ten of most expensive shopping streets is dominated by retail locations in London and Paris. More

London, Paris and Frankfurt remain
Europe’s favourite business cities
London and Paris are by a long margin Europe's two top cities to locate a business, with Frankfurt in third place. The Spanish cities of Barcelona and Madrid are rising up the ranking to challenge the likes of Amsterdam and Brussels. In the 2005 edition of European Cities Monitor (ECM) Barcelona has overtaken Amsterdam to break into the top five, while Madrid closes up to form a leading group of seven cities. More

Sharp growth in stress levels
among world’s entrepreneurs
Business owners in cities all over the world are much more stressed than just one year ago. Top of the stress table are business owners in Taiwan where a staggering 69 per cent said their stress levels had increased in just one year. They were followed by entrepreneurs in Hong Kong (54%), Turkey (54%), Mexico (54%), India (53%), the Philippines (53%), Japan (51%), Russia (51%) and South Africa (50%) where half or more of those questioned said their stress levels had gone up. More

Canadian government announces
more details of new deal for cities
Official bodies at all levels of government throughout Canada have welcomed the explanation in February 2005 by John Godfrey, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, of many of the details of Prime Minister Paul Martin’s government’s ‘New Deal for Cities and Communities’. In particular he revealed the formula by which the federal government will allocate federal gas (petrol) tax revenues toward maintenance and development of municipal infrastructures. More

New forum aims to showcase
development success stories
Each March, the world of commercial real estate descends on Cannes to attend MIPIM, Europe’s biggest property event. In 2005, MIPIM will be preceded by Global City, a forum for ‘urban decision-makers’. City Mayors spoke to Global City’s director Nathalie Depetro to find out whether the purpose behind the new event was merely commercial or whether it could become an annual showcase for successful urban development projects. More

South Korea is planning and building
high-tech cities to remain competitive
South Korea is expected to have more globally competitive cities like Seoul in 10 years as three free economic zones nationwide are developing into international cities. Free economic zones were launched as part of South Korea’s survival strategies to cope with rising competition with other countries in the global economy. With neighbouring China growing fast as a global manufacturing hub, South Korea, the world’s 12th largest economy and Asia’s third largest, has encountered limits in its manufacturing-driven economic growth. More

Foreign retail chains plan to open
stores in China’s second-tier cities
With the full opening-up of China's retail sector approaching, the world's leading retail chain have started fighting for market share in the country's second-tier cities. US-headquartered Wal-Mart, the world's biggest chain retailing operator signed a contract on 19 September 2004 with Yuxi, a city in Yunnan Province for land transfer, where Wal-Mart is to set up a supermarket in 2005. More

Southern and western US cities
to benefit most from job growth
The resumption of broad-based employment growth in US cities is critical to the ongoing strength of the current US recovery. Of the cities that gained jobs from December 2003 to April 2004, 14 gained more than 10,000 jobs and an additional 19 cities added 5,000 jobs. All but nine of the top 33 gainers are towns and cities located in southern or western US states. More

European cities outperform
their English counterparts
English provincial cities are lagging behind equivalent cities in mainland Europe. They perform less well and make a smaller contribution to national economic welfare than many provincial cities in Germany and other European countries. Based on economic performance, Frankfurt is Europe’s richest city. The southern German city of Karlsruhe is placed second, followed by Paris in third place. London, the highest ranked UK city, is in 23rd position. Liverpool occupies last place in a ranking of 61 European cities. More

Despite economic growth New York’s
spending is still outpacing tax income
When in April 2004 New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg presented his US$46.9 billion budget for the financial year (FY) 2005, he told his audience that the City's economy continued to strengthen, revenues from economically sensitive taxes, such as personal income and property taxes, were rising and the City's fiscal prudence was paying dividends.  “But unfortunately, spiralling non-discretionary spending is dampening the City's recovery and creating significant problems for the financial year 2006," he also warned. More

Companies vote Leipzig the most
business-friendly German city
The prestigious Bertelsmann Foundation has followed up its survey of the relative attractiveness to business of German states with a second survey comparing the perception among the business population of how business-orientated the 25 largest German cities are. Leipzig, in former East Germany, was voted the best German business city, while Germany's traditional economic power houses, Frankfurt, Munich, Cologne and Berlin, will need to do better as far as German business is concerned. More

US cities cut civic services and
staff to confront financial crisis
As a result of an increasing squeeze on municipal budgets, many US cities and towns are cutting staff and services and increasing fees, according to survey of 328 cities by the National League of Cities (NLC), the oldest and largest organization representing US cities. More

Canada to become the world’s
number one business location
Canada will be the best country in the world in which to conduct business over the next five years, according to the latest business environment rankings from the London based Economist Intelligence Unit. Canada assumes the top position for the first time and displaces the Netherlands, which had previously headed the rankings. More

Hamburg leads German location index
but southern states are catching up
Germany’s northern city state of Hamburg remains on top of the current Bertelsmann ranking of German business locations. The east German states of Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt occupy the bottom two places More

German cities dominate the
international trade fair market
German cities like Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Hanover, Munich, Cologne, Berlin, Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Essen, Leipzig and Hamburg host the world's leading trade fairs in an astonishing number of industrial and service sectors. In fact, two-thirds of the leading international fairs are hosted in Germany. In Cologne, the international food industry gathers each year for the Anuga fair. In Berlin, the tourism industry swaps shop secrets at the ITB fair, and consumer electronics-makers swap gizmos and cut deals at the IFA. Frankfurt is home to the world's largest publishing industry event, the Frankfurt Book Fair. More