Newsweek magazine has an article in their current issue which highlights the 10 most dynamic cities in the world. While Toronto is not included on the list, I don’t think we need to start the regular cycle of self-loathing. Why? Because the list of what makes these places dynamic isn’t really dynamic. The criteria seems almost entirely based on economics. It mainly focuses on topics like shipping, automobile and aeronautical manufacturing, high finance, and locations of corporate headquarters, but puts very little stock in the intangibles of a city like architecture, planning, public space usage, environmental concerns, walkability, and a long list of other things which make a city livable. While some of the cities listed do possess great qualities, you wouldn’t know from reading this article.
To underscore how little thought went into the concerns of, say, regular human beings, please note that five of the ten listed cities are also home to extreme cases of poverty and low qualities of life. It makes me glad Toronto is not included.
The Top 10 Most Dynamic Cities:
1. Las Vegas
2. Fukuoaka, Japan
3. Munich, Germany
4. London
5. Toulouse, France
6. Nanchang, China
7. Moscow
8. Ghaziabad, India
9. Goyang, South Korea
10. Florianà³polis, Brazil
photo by sharmiller1 on Flickr
6 comments
I’m especially glad Toronpo wasn’t on the list either.
perhaps what makes Las Vegas dynamic is the flashy models of Paris, New York, Cairo, Venice, and Rome…you know places with a sense of, well, place.
We need to built gaudy models of other cities! (clearly condo complexes named after other cities aren’t enough)
What a weird list. London and Ghaziabad, but no Berlin or Mumbai.
This list is silly. What’s next, the world’s most static cities?
I guess they had to call it something but it certainly doesn’t seem like a list based on the criteria by which most people would judge dynamism in a city.
Las Vegas ? I dont want Toronto on any list that uses the criteria that they did.