St. Even
Active Member
Toronto has moved up to number 11 from 14 last year on the Anholt City Brands Index. Vancouver has jumped ahead of both Montreal and Toronto.
This is the perspective from the Vancouver Sun, haven't found anything local or on the Anholt website. I always love the irony of a reporter reporting on a report that he doesn't think we should care about.
City needs to push the envelope to stay on top
Miro Cernetig, Vancouver Sun
Published: Monday, March 17, 2008
Yet again Vancouver has climbed its way up another "great-city" list. This time the city has moved to No. 8 from No. 16 on something called the Anholt City Brands Index, a survey assessing the world's best received cities.
I suppose we should feel self-congratulatory about it, given we're sandwiched just below Barcelona and above Amsterdam. I always wanted to live in Amsterdam, but now I don't need to -- right? -- now that we're ahead of it, not to mention Berlin, Madrid, Geneva.
Well, maybe I've been taking this international rating game too literally. Top-10 and top-20 lists are getting just a little bit silly. Do we really think we're ahead of Tokyo, Geneva and Brussels? Please. Should they even be compared? In fact, lists are a dangerous delusion, reminiscent of the way Toronto once kept calling itself a world-class city, oblivious to the fact a world-class city never needs to say it.
These rankings take our attention off the question that's really at hand: With a million more people expected to be here by 2030, how are we going to stay on the cutting edge of urban planning that's put us in the livability big leagues?
That subject comes to mind after spending an hour with Larry Beasley, Vancouver's urban planning guru. As that white flash on his lapel --his Order of Canada -- reminds, this guy is one of the major reasons why we keep making the cut.
As you may know, Beasley retired as co-director of the city's planning department in 2006. Three days later the phone rang: Come to the desert and build two cities in Abu Dhabi. Now he has one of the coolest jobs around: special adviser to the crown prince of the small but fabulously oil-rich Arab emirate, dreaming up master plans for two cities.
It's meant a lot of jetting (business class, of course) between the Middle East and Vancouver, where he still lives. It's also given him some new perspectives on his hometown.
"I'm learning we're not as far ahead on some of this stuff as I thought we were," he says. The crown prince, for example, came up with the dream of a carbon-neutral city of 100,000 people. Does Vancouver have even one carbon-neutral building? Beasley doesn't hesitate: "No, I don't think so."
The uber-planner's point is not for us to create a carbon-neutral suburb. We're hardly gushing with the petro-wealth to build on such a fanciful scale. But to keep its reputation as an urban innovator -- and not sit back and rest on our geographic beauty and past triumphs -- we've got to keep pushing the envelope.
Consider culture. Abu Dhabi is literally building a cultural mecca in the desert, most notably with its decision to build an extension of the Louvre in the emirate. Why? It's because cultural institutions are becoming as important an economic node to the modern global city as skyscrapers. The new creative class wants cities with culture.
The B.C. government's decision to earmark $50 million for a new Vancouver art gallery, which could cost upwards of $400-million, is a major step to keep up. But is it enough? Answers Beasley: "That's fantastic.... But we're a city that needs 10 times as many cultural institutions. As an international city we have to have enough money for this. And I believe we do."
That brings the conversation around to architecture. Let's face it, it's never been this city's forte. Nature has been our cathedral, the mountains our skyline. But it's no longer enough.
The art gallery, Beasley says, absolutely must be a building that makes an international splash. What some call a glamour building, or destination architecture, such as the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain.
But, Beasley says, forget hiring an international "starchitect." There's plenty of talent at home, many already making an international mark.
Our most famous urban planner isn't saying Vancouver is in imminent danger of being knocked off the top of these city surveys. He's offering cautionary advice: "If we don't stay on the cutting edge, we're in danger of being left behind."
Which is why I say, leave dwelling on Top-10 lists to David Letterman. We've got more important things to focus on.
Brand-named cities
Vancouver jumped eight places in the most recent list of the world's top-20 cities in terms of "brand strength," moving ahead of both Toronto and Montreal. The top-three cities remain unchanged for the third consecutive year.
2007
1. Sydney
2. London
3. Paris
4. New York
5. Rome
6. Melbourne
7. Barcelona
8. Vancouver
9. Amsterdam
10. Montreal
11. Toronto
12. Berlin
13. Madrid
14. Geneva
15. Milan
16. Copenhagen
17. Stockholm
18. Brussels
19. Auckland
20. Tokyo
2006
1. Sydney
2. London
3. Paris
4. Rome
5. New York
6. Washington, DC
7. San Francisco
8. Melbourne
9. Barcelona
10. Geneva
11. Amsterdam
12. Madrid
13. Montreal
14. Toronto
15. Los Angeles
16. Vancouver
17. Berlin
18. Brussels
19. Milan
20. Copenhagen
This is the perspective from the Vancouver Sun, haven't found anything local or on the Anholt website. I always love the irony of a reporter reporting on a report that he doesn't think we should care about.
City needs to push the envelope to stay on top
Miro Cernetig, Vancouver Sun
Published: Monday, March 17, 2008
Yet again Vancouver has climbed its way up another "great-city" list. This time the city has moved to No. 8 from No. 16 on something called the Anholt City Brands Index, a survey assessing the world's best received cities.
I suppose we should feel self-congratulatory about it, given we're sandwiched just below Barcelona and above Amsterdam. I always wanted to live in Amsterdam, but now I don't need to -- right? -- now that we're ahead of it, not to mention Berlin, Madrid, Geneva.
Well, maybe I've been taking this international rating game too literally. Top-10 and top-20 lists are getting just a little bit silly. Do we really think we're ahead of Tokyo, Geneva and Brussels? Please. Should they even be compared? In fact, lists are a dangerous delusion, reminiscent of the way Toronto once kept calling itself a world-class city, oblivious to the fact a world-class city never needs to say it.
These rankings take our attention off the question that's really at hand: With a million more people expected to be here by 2030, how are we going to stay on the cutting edge of urban planning that's put us in the livability big leagues?
That subject comes to mind after spending an hour with Larry Beasley, Vancouver's urban planning guru. As that white flash on his lapel --his Order of Canada -- reminds, this guy is one of the major reasons why we keep making the cut.
As you may know, Beasley retired as co-director of the city's planning department in 2006. Three days later the phone rang: Come to the desert and build two cities in Abu Dhabi. Now he has one of the coolest jobs around: special adviser to the crown prince of the small but fabulously oil-rich Arab emirate, dreaming up master plans for two cities.
It's meant a lot of jetting (business class, of course) between the Middle East and Vancouver, where he still lives. It's also given him some new perspectives on his hometown.
"I'm learning we're not as far ahead on some of this stuff as I thought we were," he says. The crown prince, for example, came up with the dream of a carbon-neutral city of 100,000 people. Does Vancouver have even one carbon-neutral building? Beasley doesn't hesitate: "No, I don't think so."
The uber-planner's point is not for us to create a carbon-neutral suburb. We're hardly gushing with the petro-wealth to build on such a fanciful scale. But to keep its reputation as an urban innovator -- and not sit back and rest on our geographic beauty and past triumphs -- we've got to keep pushing the envelope.
Consider culture. Abu Dhabi is literally building a cultural mecca in the desert, most notably with its decision to build an extension of the Louvre in the emirate. Why? It's because cultural institutions are becoming as important an economic node to the modern global city as skyscrapers. The new creative class wants cities with culture.
The B.C. government's decision to earmark $50 million for a new Vancouver art gallery, which could cost upwards of $400-million, is a major step to keep up. But is it enough? Answers Beasley: "That's fantastic.... But we're a city that needs 10 times as many cultural institutions. As an international city we have to have enough money for this. And I believe we do."
That brings the conversation around to architecture. Let's face it, it's never been this city's forte. Nature has been our cathedral, the mountains our skyline. But it's no longer enough.
The art gallery, Beasley says, absolutely must be a building that makes an international splash. What some call a glamour building, or destination architecture, such as the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain.
But, Beasley says, forget hiring an international "starchitect." There's plenty of talent at home, many already making an international mark.
Our most famous urban planner isn't saying Vancouver is in imminent danger of being knocked off the top of these city surveys. He's offering cautionary advice: "If we don't stay on the cutting edge, we're in danger of being left behind."
Which is why I say, leave dwelling on Top-10 lists to David Letterman. We've got more important things to focus on.
Brand-named cities
Vancouver jumped eight places in the most recent list of the world's top-20 cities in terms of "brand strength," moving ahead of both Toronto and Montreal. The top-three cities remain unchanged for the third consecutive year.
2007
1. Sydney
2. London
3. Paris
4. New York
5. Rome
6. Melbourne
7. Barcelona
8. Vancouver
9. Amsterdam
10. Montreal
11. Toronto
12. Berlin
13. Madrid
14. Geneva
15. Milan
16. Copenhagen
17. Stockholm
18. Brussels
19. Auckland
20. Tokyo
2006
1. Sydney
2. London
3. Paris
4. Rome
5. New York
6. Washington, DC
7. San Francisco
8. Melbourne
9. Barcelona
10. Geneva
11. Amsterdam
12. Madrid
13. Montreal
14. Toronto
15. Los Angeles
16. Vancouver
17. Berlin
18. Brussels
19. Milan
20. Copenhagen
