Fastest Cities in the World 2007

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by: Idris Mootee

Fast Company just nominated the fastest cities in the world. Here’s their Fast Cities 2007, with category based on city, population and how "fast" they are in their respective category. There are actually quite a few surprising cities here.

Having lived and worked in cities including London, Boston, LA, Milan, Hong Kong and Toronto and spending considerable time in Tokyo, New York, Paris and Beijing, I kind of understand why some of these cities are being chosen. Toronto being the No.1 global village is well deserved. Shanghai for the creative class, I saw that coming, but I’m surprised Chicago is more of the green leader instead of Portland. Ho Chi Ming as the high tech hot spot also came in as a little surprise for me, I was thinking Tel Aviv, maybe. You can check out the list below.

Creative Class Meccas
Shanghai, China: 14.5M; investment
New York: 18.8M; income per capita
San Francisco Bay Area: 4.2M; technology
Buenos Aires, Argentina: 12.6M; university

Global Villages
Toronto, Canada: 5.1M; diversity/immigration
Johannesburg, South Africa: 3.3M; immigration
Berlin, Germany: 3.4M; immigration

R&D Clusters
Fort Collins, CO: 276K, patents
Seoul, Korea: 9.6M, patents
Raleigh-Durham, NC: 1.6M, college grads

Green Leaders
Chicago, IL: 9.5M, more green roofs than all other cities combined
Stockholm, Sweden (center image): 1.7M, Europe’s least-polluted major city
Portland, OR: 2.5M; most LEED-certified green buildings
Vancouver, Cananda: 2.1M; ‘World’s Most Livable City’

High-Tech Hot Spots
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: 5.1M; 98% of children complete secondary education
Chandigarh, India: 928K; tech exports quadrupled in five years
Boise, ID: 568K; 2nd highest tech GDP growth in the U.S.

Urban Innovators
Curitiba, Brazil: 2.9M, 45% use progressive bus system
Salt Lake City, UT: 1.1M; youngest urban population in the U.S.
Tallinn, Estoonia: 399K; 58% use the internet

Culture Centers
Barcelona, Spain: 4.8M; 1500 design studios, 18 design schools
Miami, FL: 5.5M; Wynwood Art District
Dakar, Senegal: 2.5M; International Fashion Week

Startup Hubs
Austin, TX (lower image): 1.5M, more wi-fi hot spots per capita than anywhere else
Madison, WI: 543K; University of Wisconsin R&D
Tucson, AZ: 946K; top 10 in U.S. in job growth and high tech concentration
London: 8.5M, most IPOs in the world

You can find out about the runners-up here. Happy July 4th!!!!

Original post: http://mootee.typepad.com/innovation_playground/2007/07/fastest-cities-.html