Germany’s financial centre is the most sustainable global city followed by London and Copenhagen, says a new index. But the index criticised cities for putting economic and environmental achievements ahead of social needs.
Conducted by ARCADIS, a global natural and built asset design and consultancy firm, the Sustainable Cities Index ranked 50 of the world’s leading cities according to social, environmental and economic performance.
European cities ranked well in the sustainability index, taking seven of the top places. Amsterdam and Rotterdam rounded off the top five, followed by Berlin in 6th and Madrid in 9th.
Asian cities showed the most divergence: Seoul, Hong Kong and Singapore made it into the top ten, while New Delhi, Wuhan, Mumbai, Manila and Jakarta came in at the bottom of the list, with only Nairobi ranking lower. Of all the cities studied, Singapore and Hong Kong were found to be the world’s best performing cities for the ease of doing business, while Hong Kong also scored well thanks to its university education, life expectancy, and publicly available green spaces.
Overall, the index found that cities are more sustainable in economic and environmental performance than in social ones. For instance, many of the world’s leading economic powerhouses are becoming less affordable for their citizens. There is also a trade-off between strong education and poor work-life balance, as is seen in Hong Kong.
Amsterdam struck the best balance, with relatively consistent rankings in all three sub-indices, reports The Guardian.
Photo credit: barnyz, flickr/Creative Commons
