New index for ranking world's cities

Singapore-conceived system bases results on ordinary city dwellers' concerns
Goh Chin Lian Straits Times 3 Jul 12;

A SINGAPORE institute has come up with its own ranking of the world's cities, which it believes is more comprehensive than others in the market.

Its creators at the Asia Competitiveness Institute, which is part of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, also tout the index as more representative of ordinary city residents' concerns, and also more constructive.

The Global Liveable Cities Index, which was released at the World Cities Summit 2012 yesterday, ranks Singapore third, after Swiss cities Geneva and Zurich.

Senior research fellow Woo Wing Thye said rankings typically measure either a city's clout in the world or the comfort it offers to its inhabitants. But the new index marries both measurements.

'We are a happy medium between the two,' he said.

One major difference is that the index uses indicators that apply to the ordinary city dweller earning the median income, instead of a member of the social elite or an expatriate, as many other indexes tend to do.

Such a dweller has a limited budget and is concerned with issues like the average quality of education and the cost of health care, noted Professor Woo.

The index also tries to go beyond ranking just for ranking's sake: Researchers took each city's 20 weakest indicators and simulated its new rankings if it improved in these areas, to encourage cities to work on their weaknesses.

The Global Liveable Cities Index, which covers 64 Asian, European and American cities, is based on five categories: economic vibrancy and competitiveness; environmental friendliness and sustainability; domestic security and stability; social-cultural conditions; and public governance.

Singapore was ranked within the top five in all categories except for the environmental segment, where it placed 14th.

The co-director of Asia Competitiveness Institute, Dr Tan Khee Giap, indicated that Singapore could have done better if indicators such as water leakage in pipes and biodiversity were included. They were omitted because comparable data in other cities could not be found.

The lack of data also led to San Francisco - a strong contender as a liveable city - being left out.

To address such limitations, the researchers aim to conduct more field surveys to collect local data, and cover more cities.

To refine the index, ordinary city folk will also be polled for their own weightage of indicators. The index is scheduled to be published again in 2014.

The push for a new index came from the Government four years ago. It had 'noticed gaps in numerous well-known liveability rankings of cities... each catering to very specific purposes and targeted audiences', and commissioned the institute to start the project in 2008, the team said in a book on the index.

But Prof Woo dismissed any suggestion of the index being tilted in favour of Singapore, saying it gave equal weightage to all five categories of indicators used.

The new index also addresses a sticking point in some studies that rank Singapore poorly for environmental impact.

While those studies use criteria such as the amount of pavement used or the capacity to produce food, the Singapore institute's index looks at a city's carbon emissions measured against economic growth.

Prof Woo said 'the goal is a higher level of income' without polluting more than what one can take responsibility for.

Best cities for ordinary folk
New index aims to rank comfort of the majority
Robin Chan Straits Times 7 Jul 12;

THIS week, the Asia Competitiveness Institute unveiled its Global Liveable Cities (GLC) Index as urban experts gathered here for the World Cities Summit.

Dr Tan Khee Giap is the institute's co-director.

How is the Global Liveable Cities Index different from the many other indices that have been developed to rank cities?

It is superior to existing, similar studies out there because it assesses liveability for ordinary residents. It covers comprehensively five equally weighted categories of liveability, consisting of nearly 100 indicators, with minimum dominance from any single indicator, thus ensuring objectivity.

Liveability, which measures the comfort of ordinary, and hence the majority, of a city's inhabitants, is the most relevant approach.

This new index which you worked on also takes into account median income. What does median income tell us about a city's liveability?

Median income tells us more about the liveability of ordinary - and hence, the majority - of a city's inhabitants. They shape the character, content and lifestyle of each city, be it big or small, developed or developing, in any corner of the world.

There are quite a few city rankings out there. What is the benefit of having these indices?

Typically, the different city ranking indices each have certain narrow objectives or criteria in mind.

For example, certain city indices were constructed to provide guidance for multinational corporations as to how to remunerate and compensate their expats sent to a particular city, through ranking its cost of living and purchasing power and wages. Another city ranking index may simply try to measure the liveability of the city by ranking its ability to respond and overcome natural disasters, through crisis management.

With the Global Liveable Cities Index, we are - through the relative ranking of 64 major world cities - highlighting a city's clout in the world by benchmarking liveability in a globalised world.

The aim is to encourage more liveable cities for more inhabitants through peer pressure and contest.

After all, globalisation nowadays is increasingly taking place not just at the national level but even more rapidly at city level, championed by dynamic mayors.

The GLC Index ranks Singapore third. What are Singapore's weakest areas and how can it improve?

Singapore is ranked 14th in the category of indicators under environmental friendliness and sustainability, which covers pollution, depletion of natural resources and environment policy initiatives.

There are quite a number of indicators on which Singapore fares well, but statistics for these are not available for most cities; hence, we did not use it in the ranking exercise.

The second stage of the study is therefore to collect and survey other cities on these indicators so as to ensure more consistent comparability.

How do you expect the order of the cities to change two years from now, when your next ranking is due?

On the other four broad categories of indicators - economic vibrancy, cultural diversity and social harmony, safety and security, governance and effective leadership - Singapore ranked among the top positions of 64 global cities.

We do expect their relative positions to be maintained; hence, overall ranking should not change drastically. A city's liveability is not built overnight and neither would it become unliveable within a short time.