CINCINNATI, OH--(Marketwire - May 17, 2012) - What does it take for a city to succeed in today's global economy? CEOs for Cities, a national organization of urban leaders, has just released City Vitals 2.0, its analysis of the four key characteristics to economic success, today: Connections, Innovation, Talent and Your City's Distinctiveness.
Overwhelmingly, U.S. economic activity is concentrated in large metropolitan regions. The nation's large metropolitan areas are increasingly being recognized as the engines of the national economy. Globalization and technological change are reshaping the opportunities for economic prosperity; cities and our nation have a strong stake in discovering what it takes to build competitive regional economies.
Cities succeed because they are well-connected, both internally and to the wider world, because they are fertile places for innovation and entrepreneurship, because they nurture and attract talent, and because each city has distinctive characteristics and strengths.
City Vitals shows that there is no one recipe for success, no single path for cities to follow, and doesn't offer or suggest that there is an overall ranking from best to worst that emerges from this data: each metropolitan region is different, and can reasonably expect to have different opportunities and challenges than other metropolitan areas.
City Vitals presents more than two dozen indicators in each of these four areas that illustrate key aspects of each of the four dimensions, and measure the performance of the nation's 51 largest metro areas -- all those with one million or more population.
Connections. A key economic function of cities is connecting people. City Vitals measures how well cities connect their own populations to one another (through civic participation, transit, and walking) and also to the wider world (through foreign travel and the Internet).
Innovation. Cities are the crucibles for generating new ideas and new businesses. City Vitals measures patenting, entrepreneurship, and venture capital.
Talent. Increasingly, talented workers are concentrating in cities. City Vitals measures educational attainment, and the concentration of knowledge workers.
Your City's Distinctiveness. Every city had its own distinctive strengths. City Vitals measures which city's diverge most from U.S. averages and have their own unique identities.
City Vitals 2.0 updates original research done by CEOs for Cities in 2006, which has been widely used as a handbook for benchmarking urban performance and designing city and regional economic strategies.
For a Copy of the Report, Visit http://tinyurl.com/CityVitals2012
Contact Information:
Jackie Reau
513-708-5822