RESONANCE

WORLDS BEST CITY BRANDS

A Global Ranking of Place Equity

SECRETS OF

INDIVIDUAL

THE FULL

THE TOP 10 CITIES

C AT E G O RY R A N K I N G S

C I T Y- B Y- C I T Y L I S T

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R E S O N A N C E C O. C O M / B E S T C I T Y B R A N D S

2017

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HELLO THERE.

Why city brands and their place equity

matter more than ever.

Resonance Consultancy creates

development strategies, plans, policies
and brands that shape the future of places
around the world.

We have advised developers, destinations,

and governments in more than 75 countries.
We provide these leading public and
private sector organizations with research,
visioning, strategic planning, development
strategy and brand storytelling to enhance
their economic prosperity, sustainability
and resiliency.
To learn more, visit resoncanceco.com

resonanceco.com

laces are powerful. Neighborhoods, cities and nations

create energy and excitement. Places connect us to one
another in ways that online worlds cannot. Today, the idea
of place and its relative quality play growing roles in our prosperity
as well.
Famed urbanist Jane Jacobs once described the purpose of cities
simply and succinctly as a means to create wealth. Cities that do
not cannot sustain or improve their citizens quality of life.
The wealth of cities and nations has historically been determined
primarily by location: climate, access to resources, ports and
proximity to other centers of trade.
For centuries, advantages in one or more of these areas attracted
capital and investment, created jobs and sustained prosperity. But
in the past few decades, developed economies have shifted from
manufacturing to service and technology, lessening geographys
impact on economic success.
Increasingly, reputation, identity and the perceived quality of place
determine where talent, capital and tourism flow.

As research by Resonance Consultancy and others has shown,

perception of place is influenced by a wide range of factors:
the quality of the natural environment; parks and open spaces;
diversity of people; safety; economic prosperity; variety of
restaurants and nightlife; and the quality of the arts and culture.
These assets and many others shape the perception and identity
of places in the minds of people when evaluating places to live,
visit or invest.
We developed the Resonance Place Equity Index to quantify and
benchmark the relative quality of place, reputation and competitive
identity for global cities with metropolitan populations of 2 million
or more and capital cities with metropolitan populations of 1 million
or more by analyzing and comparing six key factors using the
data sources detailed in the individual category rankings.
We hope you find this exclusive global ranking informative and
inspiring. Please connect with us to discuss city and place
branding any time at resonanceco.com.

The Resonance 2017 Worlds Best City Brands Report benchmarks

places using a unique combination of core statistics and visitor
perception metrics from a range of social media. This helps global
cities understand their strengths and weaknesses through the lens of
the people who matter mostvisitors and residents. Turn the page for
more on our proprietary methodology.

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WORLDS BEST CITY BRANDS

THE
RESONANCE
RANKING

2017

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Methodology
Proprietary Resonance research evaluates each qualifying city across
the six pillars of place equity: Place, Product, Programming, People,
Prosperity and Promotion. The performance of the Top 100 city brands
in this report is summarized in radar charts. Each hexagon in a radar
chart represents a category of a citys place equity.

ver the past decade, Resonance

Consultancy has undertaken
destination assessments and
development strategies for a wide range
of communities, cities and countries.
The more we researched, the more we
understood that traditional performance
indicators, like economic output,
investment and visitors, dont reveal the
whole story to cities and their tourism and
economic development agencies.
Our team became interested in the
way visitors and citizens themselves
influence the identity and perception of

cities. Increasingly, they do it through

their evaluation of experiences on social
media and via the comments, images and
reviews they share with family, friends and
people around the world. These opinions
and attitudes, much more than traditional
marketing, influence the way people
perceive places today.
Our methodology has been developed to
rank cities based on a relative performance.
The data was collected during Q3 2016.
Note that city rankings are based on the
most current data available. As our study
is based on publicly-available information,

national or regional data is used as a proxy for

city data in some limited cases.
Resonance evaluated global principal cities
with a metropolitan population of 2 million or
more and capital cities with a population of 1
million or more, of which we ranked the Top
100 cities in the world. Principal cities are
defined as the largest city in each urban area.
For each of the ranked cities, our Place Equity
Index considers both statistical performance
and qualitative evaluations by locals and
visitors in 20 areas that we have grouped into
six core categories:

PLACE

PROGRAMMING

PROSPERITY

Perceived quality of a citys

natural and built environment

The arts, culture and

entertainment in a city

Employment, GDP per capita

and corporate head offices

PRODUCT
A citys key institutions,
attraction and infrastructure

PEOPLE

PROMOTION

Immigration and diversity

of a city

Quantity of articles, references

and recommendations online

A citys Place Equity Ranking is calculated over six

categories and measures the perceived appeal of a city
in which to live, invest or visit.

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WORLDS BEST CITY BRANDS

2017

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The Global
Top 10 City Brands
A closer look at the attributes and place equity of this years top-ranking cities.

1. LONDON

L U X U RY A N D I N D U S T RY

The Capital of Capitals reigns

atop the planets city brands,
sparked by the 2012 Summer
Games and a coordinated effort
to harness the global obsession
ever since.
P OP: 13,879,757 | ME TRO : 8 , 3 8 2 k m 2

Given the record volume of visitors

streaming into the citythe 31.5 million
in 2015 was a 20% increase from five
years earlier and 2016 could be even
betterno other city generates more
online reviews, according to our Promotion
filter, and no other city surfaces as much
content online for visitors. Only happy to
feed the curiosity is London & Partners,
the official city marketing department
founded five years ago by the Mayor
of London and commercial partners to
harness the Olympic spotlight. The single
point of branding has finally given the city
sophisticated and consistent marketing at
a time when it matters more than ever.
Arrivals are also easier than anywhere else
on earth. London ranked first for Product

3. NEW YORK

4. PARIS

Asias financial powerhouse

turns its ambition to livability
and innovation.

The openness, density and

creative heritage celebrate
the potential of urbanism.

A commitment to haute
everything keeps Paris in the
hearts of destination seekers.

POP: 5,664,322 | METRO: 719.1 km 2

POP: 20,182,305 | METRO: 34,490 km 2

POP: 12,405,426 | METRO: 17,174. 4 k m 2

Singapore topped all cities in our Prosperity

ranking, with miniscule unemployment
(ninth overall), a growing cluster of Global
500 companies (29th overall) and high per
capita GDP (35th overall). It also ranked
second for Place due its second-lowest
crime rate in our rankings, plentiful sun
(ninth) and top 40 finishes for sites and
landmarks, and parks and outdoors. Its
recently announced $2.77-billion Research,
Innovation and Enterprise Plan 2020 aims
to duplicate Nordic and Israeli innovation in
addition to the financial dominance.

LONDONS FINANCIAL DISTRICT

due to its world-leading Airport Connectivity

to the rest of the globe, with its five local
airportsincluding a recently approved
Heathrow expansionensuring a steady
stream of bankers, real estate tourists,
entrepreneurs and wide-eyed students.

The summers Brexit vote certainly sideswiped Londons reputation for inclusivity,
but given that the brand is more global
city-state than Britains capital, it will only
come back brighter from adversity.

E L E VAT E D L I V I N G

2. SINGAPORE

ew cities have achieved as much,

as quickly as the city-state of
Singapore in the past 50 years.
The meteoric rise from politically unstable,
resource-poor and unskilled ex-colony to
the talent- and capital-hungry shipping hub
(the worlds busiest) and, subsequently,
Asias wealth management capital is brand
engineering at its most ambitious.

he sophistication of the worlds

tourists has finally caught up to
London. Travelers have always
sought out best-in-class embodiments
of their values and interests. London,
right now, is a tight, highly curated Venn
diagram of multi-ethnic revelry, enviable
luxury retail, coveted universities and
colleges (more than 40 institutions of
higher education are based in the city),
andfinally!the restaurants to sate the
palates of these curious global wanderers.

C E N T R A L PA R K

o other city elicits more

visceral reactionsfrom giddy
anticipation to fond recollection
than Americas largest. In many ways,
NYC has an unfair advantage, with
two centuries of thoughtful exposure in
books, film, music and art that sings its
praises and surfaces its charms to the
world. But the city that embodies the
American dream more than any other
hustles to reap what its sown. Relentless
stewardship of the Programming space,
ranked third overall globally, driven by a
first-overall Shows and Concerts ranking
(thanks, Hamilton), and second-overall
Shopping and Nightlife, is outdone only
by the citys second-overall ranking in
Promotion (volume of online reviews and
content). NYC & Company, the newly
redesigned tourism and marketing
organization, keeps things curated with a
design staff much larger than that of most
multinationals in town.

ith the City of Light in

collective darkness over
the terrorist killing of 130
Parisian concertgoers in late 2015, the
cover of Charlie Hebdo, the citys satirical
magazine channeled the Parisians
peerless resoluteness to live and love
enlightened: over a bullet-riddled reveler
drinking, and leaking, champagne were
the words They have weapons. F them.
We have champagne. Global travelers
raised a glass to that sentiment, spiking
visitor numbers back to pre-attack levels
by the time EURO 2016 rolled into town
in June. The resilience is captured in
the citys top ranking in our Product
category. Paris scored second globally in
Airport Connectivity, fourth in Convention
Space and fifth in quality of Museums.
Infrastructure investment has also sped
up, with six new hotels opened in the past
year as well as, poetically, a new 600-seat
concert hall right on the Seine called
FLOW Paris.

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BONDI BEACH

5. SYDNEY

WORLDS BEST CITY BRANDS

CA N A L A R C H IT E C T U R E

6. AMSTERDAM

D OW N TOW N S U N S E T

7. LOS ANGELES

2017

T O K YO S L I T T L E D E TA I L S

8. TOKYO

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G O L D E N G AT E B R I D G E

9. SAN FRANCISCO

C I T Y BY A L A K E

10. TORONTO

Friendly, warm and rich,

Sydney is a beauty with a
growing line of suitors.

A relentless optimization of
city assets gives Amsterdam
authenticity to spare.

The land of fantasy, suntans

and traffic is looking inward
and finding its soul.

The ancient capital seizes an

Beautiful, witty and
opportunity to transcend recent influential, San Francisco just
calamity and host the world.
keeps getting more sublime.

The City of Neighborhoods

becomes the City of Nations.

P OP: 4 , 921,000 | ME TRO : 12 , 3 6 7. 7 k m 2

P O P : 2 , 3 3 2 , 7 7 3 | M ET RO: 2 ,5 8 0 .3 km 2

POP: 13 ,3 4 0 ,0 6 8 | M ET RO: 12 ,5 6 2 km 2

POP: 37,800,000 | METRO: 13,572 km 2

POP: 4,656,132 | METRO: 6,410 km 2

POP: 6,055,724 | METRO: 5,905.7 k m 2

f Sydney werent so (relatively) isolated,

chances are it would be challenging
Paris and London for visitor number
supremacy. Its the laidback, safe and
sunny manifestation of the good life.
Ranked third overall in our multifaceted
Place category, with an impressive seventh
overall in Parks and Outdoor Activities,
Sydney is just getting started. The longserving local government has committed
to extensive light rail build-outs to battle
increased traffic congestion, and the newly
formed Greater Sydney Commission will
finally centralize planning and development
in the city. Meanwhile the contentious
Barangaroo development commences
build-out on the waterfront, and the shovels
hit the dirt on the new Western Sydney
Airport. Given its third overall ranking for
Prosperity in our index, including third
overall for per capita GDP, the investment to
keep a good thing going isnt surprising.

urprised to see a mid-sized European

capital with a fading party reputation
ranked so high? You obviously
havent visited in a while. Not content with
its raunchy, pot- and prostitution-fueled
rep (and the tourist quality it drew),
Amsterdam doubled down on its rich
architecture, mobility and anti-authoritarian
confidence. Thats why new museums
open annually, the most recent being the
Warhol and Banksy-stuffed Moco. And why
a repurposed semi-suburban Shell complex
is now the ADAM Tower, complete with 24/7
music and dining... and the citys priciest
hotel room. The airport boasts an outpost
of the lauded Rijksmuseum, testament
to the citys ranking of sixth overall in
Product, including sixth globally in Airport
Connectivity and 17th overall for Museums.
The airport will keep growing, with current
additions and a new terminal in 2023, all to
accommodate the four-fold increase in city
visitors over the past 20 years.

ow does a city brand composed

of 88 municipalities resonate?
If youre L.A., you start taking
care of your heart. Long a hollowedout afterthought for visitors preferring
sunscreen to street life, Downtown
Los Angeles is doing the unthinkable:
creating acres of streetscape meant for
pedestrians. The city will likely eclipse
its seventh overall ranking for Product,
including improving on its current 20th
ranking for Museums Grand Park,
opened in 2012 at the foot of iconic
Bunker Hill, is now a must-see with the
new Diller Scofidio + Renfro-designed
Broad Museum. Taste-making pioneers
Standard Hotel and the Ace Hotel are
being joined by no fewer than $3 billion of
new hotel and residential projects. Even
the neglected Los Angeles River is being
redeveloped in the next few years by none
other than Frank Gehry.

okyos round-the-clock kinetic

mobility, innovation and efficiency
mesmerize global visitors. But
its only when the motivation for this
legendary engineering and grand design
is considered that another characteristic
emerges: resiliencein the face of nuclear
radiation, earthquakes, tsunamis and, in
the past five years, all three simultaneously.
Today, with an unprecedented commitment
to sustainable developmentand the goal
to reduce citywide greenhouse emissions
by 25% from 2000 levelsthe 2020 Tokyo
Olympic Games will speed Tokyos race
back to the pinnacle of urban livability
for its residents. The new investment
will complement an already exceptional
ranking in our Programming category, led
by the best overall global Restaurants
ranking and a fifth overall finish for
Shopping. Equally impressive is the fifth
overall Product category ranking, powered
by top five finishes in museum quality and
entertainment options.

ts unofficial tagline of Everybodys

Favorite City may seem inflated, but
only to those whove never been.
Perhaps its the Golden Gate Bridge
glowing against the shifting Pacific fog
that gets you, or the realization that even
the geology has an algorithm, with 49 hills
within the seven-by-seven mile grid. Long
a vanguard of global counterculture, San
Francisco is now defining the mainstream,
often with the innovation dreamt up in
Silicon Valley 45 minutes south first tested
on its streets. Dreamers have long sought
their fortune here, and the city ranks eighth
globally in our Prosperity category with the
seventh highest GDP per capita in the world
and 14th most Fortune 500 companies
headquartered here. Happily, nature
still resonates, with the city ranking 16th
globally in our Place category, led by Parks
and Outdoor Activities and Air Quality.

anadas largest city has always

been a hedge for people and
capitalfrom English companies
moving here in the 70s from Francophone
Montral to immigrants seeking a
foothold to start a better life. The thing
about welcoming everyone is that many
appreciate the hospitality and never leave,
creating a diversity of individuals that
blends into a unified critical mass. With
46% of its population foreign-born, Toronto
powered into the Top 10 based on its fifth
overall ranking in our People category.
The citys open doors, combined with its
financial density (with a Fortune 500 head
office ranking of eighth) has resulted in
unprecedented downtown density and
local swagger, egged on by real estate
wealth and whatever nickname Drake
gives his beloved hometown this week.

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WORLDS BEST CITY BRANDS

06

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THE SIX PILLARS

OF PLACE EQUITY

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WORLDS BEST CITY BRANDS

2017

Place

Product

Our most layered category

quantifies a citys elusive
sense of place.

A ranking of the hardware of

a cityoften the most difficult
metric for cities to get right.

oth the natural and the built

environment of a city are key factors
in shaping our perception of a
destination. From how often the sun shines,
to the air quality, to the safety of the streets,
a number of readily measurable, oftencited factors influence our perceptions of
a city.
Less easy to quantify are the relative
natural beauty and quality of the built
environment in a city or destination.
Placemaking is an approach to urban
design that considers the built environment
as a vehicle for creating a sense of
place and fostering community within a
destination. Whether through the beauty
of their natural environment or urban
design, exceptional physical places exist
in destinations ranging from metropolitan
centers to suburbs and islands.
To gauge the relative attractiveness
of a citys placemaking, Resonance
identifies the number of Very Good and
Excellent local and traveler-recommended
neighborhoods, landmarks, parks and
outdoor activities on TripAdvisor for each
destination.

Lisbons Enviable Lifestyle

That Lisbon scored first in the Place
category, yet didnt place in our Top 10,
speaks volumes about the Portuguese
capitals lead in safety, climate and local
pride over other cities. The Mediterranean
climate is well documented, as is the
welcoming spirit of Lisbons millenniaold crossroads. But its the reinvention of
its port and industrial lands, ignited by
Expo 98, that bolsters its much older,
pedestrian-focused streetscape and
enchants new and returning visitors.

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citys infrastructure and institutions

shape its identity via the quantity,
quality and reputation of
products such as institutions of higher
learning, museums, convention centers
and airports. University rankings and the
number of institutional buildings can have
considerable impact on reputation and are
often top of mind when it comes to what
outsiders know of and understand about a
city or destination. Expensive and difficult
to develop and maintain, exceptional
products are often found only in large
cosmopolitan cities.

TA K I N G T R A N S I T I N L I S B O N

Top 15 City Brands

for Place
1. LISBON
2. SINGAPORE
3. SYDNEY
4. BARCELONA
5. MADRID
6. ROME
7. TOKYO
8. HONG KONG
9. SAN DIEGO
10. LONDON
11. BANGKOK
12. NEW YORK
13. PARIS
14. MELBOURNE
15. BRISBANE

Factors considered in
each destinations overall
Place ranking are...
Average air quality index1
Average number of sunny days2
Homicide rate3
Number of Very Good and
Excellent neighborhoods and
landmarks recommended by
locals and visitors4
Number of Very Good and
Excellent parks and outdoor
activities recommended by locals
and visitors5

1. World Health Organization

2. National Climatic Data Center - Weatherbase
3. Office for National Statistics
Office for Regional Statistics
Official police records
UN Office on Drugs and Crime
International homicide statistics
Eurostat
Mexican Citizens Council for Public Security
and Criminal Justice
4. TripAdvisor
5. TripAdvisor

Museums and Mobility

in Moscow
While finishing well below high-ranking
London and Paris overall, Moscow kept
pace with the two cities in the Product
category. Moscows leadership here
shouldnt be surprising, given the sheer
number of cultural institutions in Europes
most populous city (after some redrawing
of the borders allowed it to pass Istanbul).
Big news in the museum space includes the
120th anniversary of the Moscow Museum
in 2015, with the opening of another
Gulag History State Museumto remember
the millions who perished under Stalin.
The two are part of the citys approximately
500 museums and galleriesa staggering
number, even for a national capital.

Moscows leadership here

shouldnt be surprising, given
the sheer number of cultural
institutions.
The citys airport is also growing rapidly, with
the recent approval of the Northern Terminal
Complex, which will increase capacity to
55 million passengers annuallya number
sure to move Moscow up from its current
fourth ranking for Connectivity.

MOSCOWS GLEAMING BUSINESS DISTRICT

Top 15 City Brands

for Product
1. LONDON
2. PARIS
3. MOSCOW

Factors considered in
each destinations overall
Product ranking are...

4. NEW YORK

Ranking of top local university6

5. TOKYO

Number of direct destinations

served by airport

6. AMSTERDAM

Size of convention center

7. LOS ANGELES
8. SINGAPORE
9. BARCELONA
10. BERLIN

Number of Very Good and

Excellent attractions and
amusements recommended
by locals and visitors7
Number of Very Good and
Excellent museums and fine
arts institutions recommended
by locals and visitors8

11. SHANGHAI
12. MADRID
13. ISTANBUL
14. SO PAULO
15. HONG KONG

6. QS World University Rankings 2016-2017

7. TripAdvisor
8. TripAdvisor

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WORLDS BEST CITY BRANDS

2017

Programming

People

This category measures the

experiential pillars of a great
visit: food, shows, shopping
and nightlife.

The more diverse a citys

population, the more it
produces global ideas... on a
local scale.

f product is the hardware of cities or

destinations, the mosaic of cultural
programming and lifestyle experiences
they offer is the software that makes them
run. While individually insignificant, it is
the sum of programming initiatives that
fosters a communitys connection to
place. To gauge the relative attractiveness
of a citys programming, Resonance
identifies the number of Very Good and
Excellent recommendations of culinary
and cultural experiences on TripAdvisor for
each destination.

Paris, the All-Consuming City

London may have topped both the
Programming category and the overall
Best City Brand (read all about it on pg. 6),
but Paris was a very close second. Where
Paris reigns supreme globally is in the
Shopping sub-section of our Programming
categoryperhaps not surprising, given
that this city invented department stores
and mass fashion in the 1800s. Those are
still there, of course, but today treasure
hunters can go niche like never before
from absinthe apothecaries to parasol
boutiqueswith nary a chain store in sight.

The city is a culinary hive

unlike anywhere else on
the continent.
Paris also ranked fourth overall globally
for Restaurants, fueled by the most
Michelin Stars of any city in Europe and
Frances national pastime of dining out.
With a half-dozen new luxury hotels and
their high-profile restaurants opening in
2016, the city is a culinary hive unlike
anywhere else on the continent.

uman capital is a citys most

valuable resource. To evaluate the
relative strength of human capital
from one city to the next, we consider the
diversity of the citys population, which is
of proven importance when it comes to
attracting talent. To measure the relative
diversity of a citys people, Resonance
looks at data on the percentage of the
population born in foreign countries.

P E D E S T R I A N PA R A D I S E I N PA R I S

Top 15 City Brands

for Programming

All Roads Lead to Dubai

1. LONDON
2. PARIS
3. NEW YORK
4. TOKYO
5. ROME
6. MOSCOW
7. BARCELONA
8. MADRID
9. SO PAULO
10. CHICAGO
11. ISTANBUL
12. BERLIN

Factors considered in
each destinations overall
Programming ranking
are...
Number of Very Good and
Excellent shopping experiences
recommended by locals and
visitors9

Despite finishing far out of our overall

Top 10 ranking, Dubai ranked highest
in cosmopolitan population, with 83% of
its residents foreign-born. Its not only
that Dubai attracts expats and migrant
workers to power its ambitious city-building
projects, but its the diversity of those
immigrants that is notable: 200 nationalities
work side-by-side in a city that has
become the financial hub of the Gulf.

15. LOS ANGELES

D U B A I S S H E I K H Z AY E D G R A N D M O S Q U E

Top 15 City Brands

for People
1. DUBAI
2. DOHA
3. KUWAIT CITY
4. MIAMI
5. TORONTO

The factor considered in

each destinations overall
People ranking is...
Foreign-born percentage
of population13

6. SINGAPORE

Number of Very Good and

Excellent culture and performing
arts experiences recommended
by locals and visitors10

7. BRUSSELS
8. MUSCAT

Number of Very Good and

Excellent places to eat and drink
recommended by locals and
visitors11

9. AMMAN
10. VANCOUVER

Number of Very Good and

Excellent nightlife experiences
recommended by locals
and visitors12

11. SYDNEY
12. LOS ANGELES

13. PRAGUE
14. RIO DE JANEIRO

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13. NEW YORK

9. TripAdvisor
10. TripAdvisor
11. TripAdvisor
12. TripAdvisor

14. PERTH
STROLLING DUBAIS SEASIDE

15. LONDON

13. Office for National Statistics

United Nations Population Division
Eurostat

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WORLDS BEST CITY BRANDS

2017

Prosperity

Promotion

A well-paid, economically
secure citizenry facilitates
stewardship and innovation.

A citys ability to tell its story

(and help visitors do the same)
depends on how it incents and
rewards sharing of experience
by locals and visitors.

s noted, Jane Jacobs defined

cities as places that produce
wealth. If they cannot generate
wealth, they cannot sustain the
employment and quality of life needed
to attract and retain people. In general,
beliefs about the wealth and prosperity of a
city are informed by statistics such as the
unemployment rate and income of citizens,
and they are shaped by the presence
or absence of large, recognizable
corporationsthis despite the fact that
startups and innovation increasingly
drive a citys development and economic
growth. Yet these stats dont tell the whole
story: unemployment and GDP per capita
are of growing concern in measuring
quality of place.

T
MAXWELL ROAD IN SINGAPORE

Top 15 City Brands

for Prosperity
1. SINGAPORE
2. DOHA

Singapore Seizes Its Future

Singapore, the fast-emerging financial
superpower in Asia, ranks first in our
Prosperity category. Powered by its
ability to evolve from the planets busiest
transshipment hub into a commodity and
foreign exchange powerhouse, the island
nation has become a premier wealth
management destination. Singapores
reinvestment into research, talent and
corporate headquarters recruitment
ensures it will be home to a sustainably
wealthy citizenry for decades to come.

3. SYDNEY

Factors considered in
each destinations overall
Prosperity ranking are...

4. HONG KONG

Unemployment rate14

5. TOKYO

GDP per capita

6. SEATTLE

15

Number of Global 500 corporate

headquarters16

7. MELBOURNE
8. SAN FRANCISCO
9. DUBAI
11. MUNICH
12. BEIJING
13. SEOUL
14. HOUSTON
15. MINNEAPOLIS

he amount and frequency of

media coverage, online articles,
references and place-based
recommendations influence our perception
of cities on a daily basis, whether the news
is good or bad. While larger economic
centers receive the most attention,
effective promotion and communication
for cities can have an outsized impact
on perception: medium global cities like
Dublin, Vienna and Munich command
more attention than their size alone would
merit. Today, residents, businesses and
visitors promote a city to the world more
than city marketers or chambers of
commerce. But cities themselves still have
an important role to play in developing
and managing the ever-growing numbers
of communication and media channels.
Successful management fosters an
integrated omnichannel experience
and creates consistent and aligned
messaging that can encourage investment,
development and visitation.

14. Office for National Statistics

Eurostat
World Bank Statistics
EURES
15. Office for National Statistics
World Bank Statistics
OECD Statistics
UNdata
International Labour Organization
16. Fortune.com

N E W YO R K C I T Y S I C O N I C D E N S I T Y

Top 15 City Brands

for Promotion
1. LONDON
2. NEW YORK
3. PARIS
4. MELBOURNE
5. BERLIN
6. SINGAPORE

They Love New York

10. OSAKA

SINGAPORES GARDEN SCULPTURES

PA G E 1 7

London topped our Promotion category

in addition to the overall Best City Brand
(see pg. 6), but New York City was a close
second. Curating official marketing is
NYC & Company, the newly redesigned
tourism and marketing organization that
keeps things sharable and slick. More
reminiscent of a newsroom than a DMO,
the organization even boasts its own
typefaces at NYCgo.com. Then theres the
visceral need by visitors themselves to tell
their own versions of the stories theyve
grown up with, whether its about a stroll
on the High Line or an Instagram from
DUMBO on a sunny afternoon.

7. AMSTERDAM
8. HONG KONG
9. MADRID
10. TOKYO
11. SYDNEY
12. WASHINGTON
13. DUBLIN
14. SAN FRANCISCO
15. TORONTO

Factors considered in
each destinations overall
Promotion ranking are...
Number of Google references
for each city
Number of TripAdvisor reviews
for each city

PA G E 1 8

WORLDS BEST CITY BRANDS

2017

2 017

TOP 100
WORLDS BEST
CITY BRANDS

PA G E 1 9

PA G E 2 0

WORLDS BEST CITY BRANDS

Rank

City

Country

Place

Product

Programming

People

Prosperity

Promotion

London

United Kingdom

10

15

23

Singapore

Singapore

22

New York

USA

12

13

Paris

France

13

Sydney

Australia

42

Amsterdam

Netherlands

21

Los Angeles

USA

Tokyo

2017

PA G E 2 1

Rank

City

Country

Place

Product

Programming

People

Prosperity

Promotion

26

Milan

Italy

33

34

21

55

86

20

27

Prague

Czech Republic

19

46

13

58

110

22

16

28

Washington

USA

53

30

44

63

25

12

31

68

29

Brisbane

Australia

15

69

73

24

26

29

26

11

11

30

Vancouver

Canada

61

59

49

10

72

23

23

16

24

31

Miami

USA

35

51

59

64

47

24

15

12

52

16

32

Barcelona

Spain

43

133

90

Japan

95

10

33

Brussels

Belgium

82

24

51

116

33

San Francisco

USA

16

57

16

18

14

34

Hong Kong

China

15

37

158

10

Toronto

Canada

38

21

24

39

15

35

Bangkok

Thailand

11

71

17

84

64

28

11

Melbourne

Australia

14

58

39

19

36

Hamburg

Germany

46

49

43

38

32

52

12

Madrid

Spain

12

47

113

37

Buenos Aires

Argentina

19

47

20

65

145

18

13

Berlin

Germany

18

10

12

60

90

38

Lisbon

Portugal

44

27

70

148

44

14

San Diego

USA

30

29

28

40

29

39

Copenhagen

Denmark

36

27

55

62

29

48

15

Moscow

Russia

42

72

18

40

40

Philadelphia

USA

74

22

38

67

60

46

16

Munich

Germany

40

15

50

27

11

31

41

Stockholm

Sweden

50

26

91

39

40

35

17

Vienna

Austria

25

20

34

23

108

19

42

Seoul

South Korea

51

18

30

99

13

54

18

Houston

USA

92

19

30

26

14

50

43

Boston

USA

47

35

46

29

36

73

19

Chicago

USA

71

33

10

45

42

26

44

St. Petersburg

Russia

39

23

18

78

49

78

20

Rome

Italy

25

76

110

20

45

Orlando

USA

61

56

55

50

74

36

21

Seattle

USA

31

49

32

51

41

46

Oslo

Norway

94

37

89

33

18

51

22

Dubai

UAE

37

52

63

58

47

Frankfurt

Germany

85

36

88

20

33

63

23

Las Vegas

USA

22

37

19

44

91

34

48

Athens

Greece

26

48

42

34

159

48

24

Dublin

Ireland

22

45

35

42

99

13

49

Istanbul

Turkey

56

13

11

96

140

43

25

Montral

Canada

43

37

28

39

69

25

50

Dallas

USA

99

61

66

35

22

59

PA G E 2 2

WORLDS BEST CITY BRANDS

Rank

City

Country

Place

Product

Programming

People

Prosperity

Promotion

51

Beijing

China

66

15

32

158

12

24

52

So Paulo

Brazil

59

14

138

122

53

Manchester

United Kingdom

132

62

68

30

54

Shanghai

China

67

11

25

55

Rio de Janeiro

Brazil

44

54

56

Birmingham

United Kingdom

79

57

Portland

USA

58

Denver

59

2017

PA G E 2 3

Rank

City

Country

Place

Product

Programming

People

Prosperity

Promotion

76

St. Louis

USA

124

68

99

57

36

72

27

77

Charlotte

USA

127

59

70

82

60

70

82

36

78

Delhi

India

30

67

61

125

119

39

158

36

31

79

Doha

Qatar

119

106

144

109

14

138

94

16

80

Stuttgart

Germany

148

78

121

25

28

99

29

72

41

108

61

81

Tampa

USA

59

93

98

56

59

90

41

94

36

63

44

65

82

Rotterdam

Netherlands

107

95

138

17

51

95

USA

104

63

62

54

29

67

83

Naples

Italy

32

120

67

92

151

65

Budapest

Hungary

29

40

46

81

137

36

84

Bucharest

Romania

57

79

77

114

54

101

60

San Antonio

USA

51

86

52

61

21

68

85

Kiev

Ukraine

104

64

75

73

139

103

61

Osaka

Japan

49

55

40

107

10

76

86

Leeds

United Kingdom

113

115

84

71

99

79

62

Perth

Australia

27

109

134

14

17

60

87

Essen

Germany

135

83

141

49

47

96

63

Mexico City

Mexico

88

41

44

98

88

45

88

Salt Lake City

USA

100

85

123

52

53

127

64

Tel Aviv

Israel

96

74

64

32

67

86

89

Pittsburgh

USA

142

90

96

80

57

87

65

Santiago

Chile

65

75

41

101

91

42

90

Bangalore

India

83

84

83

125

88

80

66

Phoenix

USA

61

65

103

46

47

71

91

San Juan

Puerto Rico

93

128

119

67

79

93

67

Taipei

Taiwan

28

53

48

108

42

81

92

Cleveland

USA

160

80

99

87

107

84

68

Atlanta

USA

98

32

57

79

45

89

93

Lima

Peru

89

87

70

138

136

64

69

Cologne

Germany

119

66

90

37

31

88

94

Cincinnati

USA

147

122

93

86

50

104

70

Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

58

81

82

77

45

62

95

Nagoya

Japan

77

111

115

100

18

129

71

Ottawa

Canada

54

112

84

48

79

55

96

Bogot

Colombia

122

69

78

123

155

77

72

Warsaw

Poland

69

28

92

109

60

53

97

Saigon

Vietnam

33

113

58

158

131

81

73

Bombay

India

17

72

65

125

75

57

98

Detroit

USA

156

87

115

85

82

111

74

Helsinki

Finland

90

43

95

69

94

69

99

Panama City

Panama

87

136

137

87

77

93

75

Minneapolis

USA

130

73

78

58

14

98

100

Fukuoka

Japan

83

108

87

115

64

130

We hope you enjoyed this 2017 ranking of the Worlds Best City Brands.
To enjoy more exclusive insights on global cities, destinations, real estate and
the future of tourism and travel, please go to Resonanceco.com/Our-Reports.
Cheers.

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