Paris voted world's best city "brand," Sydney runner-up

By Miral Fahmy
SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) - Sydney was voted the city with the friendliest people, the best quality of life, climate and views in a global survey, but was beaten to the top spot by Paris, which was seen as being more interesting.
The 2009 Anholt-GfK Roper City Brands IndexSM (CBI), based on a survey of some 10,000 people across 20 countries, likens cities to "brands" and measures consumer perception of the image and reputation of 50 major cities worldwide.
Paris ranks as the top overall city brand, followed by Sydney, London, Rome and New York.
"The index measures the world's perception of each city, which influences people's choices on where to live, work and vacation," CBI founder Simon Anholt said in a statement.
"Particularly in the face of today's uncertain economic climate, it's vital to understand the forces and opinions that drive business toward and away from these cities."
Respondents were asked to rank the 50 cities according to six categories that include "presence" or knowledge of the city and its global contribution; "place" or cleanliness and climate; "pulse" or interesting lifestyles and "potential" or perception as good place to do business, to find a job and go to school.
"While Sydney lands in first place in three of the six categories, it is Paris' big lead over Sydney in the Presence and Pulse dimensions that push it into the top position overall," said Xiaoyan Zhao, director of the CBI study at GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media.
"Similarly, there are cities with notable strengths in some areas but are pulled down by their poor showings in others."
London, in the number 3 spot overall, was the best-known city and the one most people see as having business opportunities.
Cities that came at the bottom of the survey included the Saudi port city of Jeddah, which was voted as the least-known, India's Mumbai, which was not seen as being very clean while Cairo, Egypt, was voted as having some of the world's unfriendliest people.
Following is the list of the top 10 cities from the global survey: 1. Paris 2. Sydney 3. London 4. Rome 5. New York 6. Barcelona 7. San Francisco 8. Los Angeles 9. Vienna 10. Madrid
(Editing by Sugita Katyal)

Source: Reuters