A United Nations program – the 'United Nations Human Settlement Program' – has launched a report on the most 'prosperous' cities: 'State of the World's Cities 2012-2013: Prosperity of Cities'. The report follows the recent trend of combining economic measures with other yardsticks based on quality rather than quantity. In particular, the index measures five dimensions: 'Productivity' (the city's GDP divided by the number of inhabitants), infrastructure (water, sewage system, roads, ICT), quality of life (use of public spaces, furniture urban development, civic identity and sense of community, security), equity and social inclusion (distribution of income, minority rights, poverty rate, gender equality, participation in public life), environmental sustainability (pollution, energy saving, use of resources natural…).
Income distribution is an important variable. For example, New York, which ranks second on 4 dimensions (excluding equity) plummets to 30th once equity is included, given the poor performance of its Gini coefficient (which measures inequality). In first place is Vienna, followed by Oslo, Helsinki, Dublin, Copenhagen, Tokyo, London, Melbourne, Stockholm and Paris. For Italy, as far as we know, there is only Milan among the 95 world cities studied, and Milan is in 20th place, with a good result for infrastructures and bad results for environmental sustainability.
www.unhabitat.org
