Indicators 2thinknow | City Benchmarking Data

Simplified Benchmark Score

2thinknow Simplified Benchmark Score provides a simple performance reference 0-5 for each city on any indicator. Being simple, it's easy to see relative performance at a glance.

Global Ranking

Global Indicator Ranking - for each indicator a global ranking is generated for all cities in the set. You can now see how any city ranks on any indicator. [New in 2018]

Data Points

Each indicator is comprised of a few Data Points, with sources and date of data. Most indicators contain around 4 standard data points (as few as 2) and as many as 10.

Indicator	Measuring
Architectural Layering	Architectural complexity and layering of a city (architects refer to this as ‘grain’), balancing preservation and new building.
Decorative Features	Presence of decorative features in buildings, and related sectors (stone masonry, carpentry, sculpture, street art).
Green Architecture	Cutting edge green buildings, experimental or new sustainable building designs.
History_	The age of the city since its first major urban/population incarnation, with older cities having higher tourism value.
Neighborhoods	Quality of decentralised neighbourhoods that are walkable and interconnected.
Cinema & Film	Diversity of cinema offerings including film festivals.
Cultural Festivals	Cities with cultural festivals that attract a multitude of global (Edinburgh Comedy Festival), regional, national and local visits.
Dance & Ballet	Dance companies and ballet companies resident or transient in the city.
Handcrafts	Measuring support for local crafts and artisan items, substantial evidence needed.
Private Art Galleries	Measuring art dealers and related industries.
Public Art Galleries	Public art galleries can profile a city and support the art in that city.
Public Artworks	Public statues, external 2D and 3D art and external exhibitions or artistic items.
Public Museums	Measuring breadth and depth of museum infrastructure in city.
Satire & Comedy	Measuring support for comedy events.
Theatre & Plays	Theatres and plays (not movie cinemas) within CBD and surrounds accessible to visitors and residents.
Youth Activities	Data points on breadth of available activities for youth (from pre-school to teenage).
Designers	Measures design (with a focus on graphic, business and industrial design) as a core skill of the innovation economy
Green Business	Potential for multiple green business development in city.
Video & Film Production	Measures video and film production facilities and achievements relative to other cities.
Hotel Range	Range of hotels, motels, hostels and accommodation options with a strong mix and bed supply being optimal.
Inbound Visitors	Number of inbound tourist arrivals in area by all recorded modes.
International Conferences	Conference popularity and facilities within city, and whether all year round or seasonal.
International Students	Number and professional mix of international students in city, compared to competing cities.
Visitor Entry	Measures visa requirements for entry and classifies degree of burden placed on a potential traveller.
Visitor Information	Quality and quantity of printed, web and mobile information in English and other languages, that is easily available.
Wealth Distribution	Equity in the society based on wealth equality, using best recorded Gini coefficients and other proxies.
Air Cleanliness	Measuring the city air cleanliness, and potential for air quality in given geography.
Climate & Weather	Is the weather consistent and conducive to work? Data points measuring the average climate.
Emissions	Data points on emissions at a city level where available, or state/national level in some cases.
Natural Disasters	Measuring recent history of natural disasters and potential impact of natural disaster such as earthquake, flood, bushfires, cyclones.
Nature	Natural environmental assets such as beaches, parks, wetlands which may affect life quality, and drive tourism/eco-tourism.
Noise Limiting	Measuring noise causes, and classifying limitation measures.
Public Green Areas	Measuring city park protection, and natural and wildlife preservation areas within immediate metropolitan area and inner-city.
Water features	The major water features in terms of importance (e.g. major river), range of amenity and cleanliness.
Fashion Designers	Measuring fashion designers and fashion events within the city.
Cafes & Tea Rooms	Diversity, range and sheer number of cafe’s / tea rooms and suitability as multi-purpose business and visitor venues.
Fine Restaurants	Quality of restaurants, especially destination restaurants.
Food Diversity	Measuring the breadth in diversity of food cuisines.
Meal Affordability	Affordability of basic sandwich and beverage (or local equivalent) relative to other cities at a ‘walk-in’ food establishment.
Bookstores	Measures presence of bookstores and book outlets (may include new media/ebooks).
Magazine Availability	Magazine availability and outlets for printed periodicals.
Media Censorship	Measuring media censorship (and media manipulation) by central authorities blocks economic opportunities, as events over take centralised bodies.
News Journalism	News journalism sources in the city (of all kinds).
Public Libraries	Libraries and media centers for the public to access free information are crucial to new types of innovation.
TV & Radio Networks	The number, existence and independence of local TV and radio networks.
Underground Publications	Measures independent underground newspapers, zines or other ‘dissent’ publications.
Web Censorship	Web censorship or control can lead to the blocking of business opportunities, and rampant industrial espionage (an emerging problem).
Bicycle Friendly	Availability of protected and designated bicycle facilities, as well as bicycle support.
Streets	Width and layout of streets, major streets that are well known globally.
Walking City	Safely walkable CBD with supporting transport modes.
Classical Music	Successful choirs, orchestras and classic music groups.
Music Venues	Measuring if the city has a comparable number and breadth of music venues?
Nightlife	The quality, variety and mix of nightlife venues and the regulation (or self-policing) of venues.
Opera House	Is there an Opera House, and what is the degree of support for opera measured by opera infrastructure.
Popular Music	How many popular musicians or how much support for future contemporary music does the city provide?
Alternative Population	Evidence of alternative population may be evidence of creative and new ideas.
Education Level	Level of educated workforce availability now and in future.
Equality of Women	Are women equal (not in number/quotas) but in access measured by actual positions held (such as Mayor)?
Population	Population of the city indicates size of the market.
Places of Worship	Number of churches, mosques or all places of worship.
Fitness Facilities	Presence of gyms, and indoor and outdoor facilities for amateur and professional sports.
Sports Fanaticism	Level of support for a variety of sports codes, and general sports industry support.
Sports Stadiums	Quantity and modernity of stadium infrastructure in or near city.

Indicator	Measuring
Electricity & Gas	Measures renewable energy, availability and reliability of current electricity supply.
Food Supply	Food quality measured with lower degree of processing, and proximity of farms/food supply to urban centre.
Public Water Supply	Water supply quality and purity, and process of water supply.
Waste Management	Comprehensiveness of waste treatment and recycling programs
Business Approach	Measures whether the city is pro-business versus impediments to business.
Card Acceptance	Acceptance of major credit cards across all business and payment types.
Banking & Finance	Central Bank independence and bank stability. Important: no bank failures.
Company Tax	Measuring the cities rate of company taxes, with lower company taxes allowing companies to establish in the city, and more easily attract innovative companies.
Foreign Exchange	Availability of Foreign Exchange in major currencies and formats to business and private travellers.
Multi-National Headquarters	No. of multi-national corporations headquartered within driving distance, and relative importance of proximate multinationals.
Professional Services	Availability of a range of accounting, consulting, legal and other professional services across all advice areas.
Public Meeting Spaces	Availability and affordability of meeting spaces of various types
Sales Taxes	Is the city a globally competitve destination for low sales taxes, which thus drives greater revenues from product innovation?
Global Airport Connections	How well connected and how close is the airport to other major airports in flying hours?
Languages	How many languages do the citizens of a city speak? Are those languages international languages, or regional dialects. % of English fluency is a key enabler of trade.
Tourist Entry	Ease of visitor entry for wealthier national tourists and casual visitors to country.
Travel Advisories	Travel advisories by one of the UK, US, Canada, Australia or NZ can indicate negative reasons against travel.
GDP Per Capita	On a Real basis and PPP (where available). GDP per capita is measured at a city metropolitan area level.
Property Prices	Property prices for units and houses, relative to income and value in the inner-city.
Unemployment Rate	Current unemployment rate at a city level, or analyst adjusted estimate based on state/region/national data adjusted for city.
Arts Education	Arts education drives arts and design industries. Measuring tertiary and commercial arts institutions.
Business Education	Mix and availability of business education options, international ranking and quality of business schools.
Science & Engineering	Science and engineering facilities and competitive position of city.
Student Population	Student populations size — a proxy for fresh approaches and affordable labor for new business models and experiments.
University Breadth	Data points for breadth of university offerings in the city.
University Commercialization	Measuring ability of universities to commercialize technology.
Government Responsiveness	Online, Gov 2.0, open data and eGovernment initiatives as measures of responsiveness and service provision capability.
Government Stability	Type of government model combined with recent history to provide a stability analysis.
Political Transparency	The transparency and openness vs. potential for corruption within a city.
Public Servant Professionalism	Measuring institutional basis for professionalism, education and independence for public service as a branch of government.
General Medicine	Number and breadth of doctors and facilities relative to competing cities.
Hospitals	Private / public hospital coverage and classifying overall delivery of services to community.
Infant Mortality Rate	Infant Mortality normalised into performance bands (national where city not available).
Life Expectancy	Life Expectancy normalised into performance bands (national where city not available).
Waiting Lists	Availability of elective and emergency medical services to the community in the city.
Industry Clusters	Are there world leading clusters (e.g. Silicon Valley) in specific segments in the city? Clusters can balance industry diversity, and sometimes if integrated support development.
Manufacturing Breadth	Breadth of manufacturing activity by sectors of industrial manufacturing.
Manufacturing Quality	Quality of manufactured outputs and level of advanced manufactures.
Publishing Industry	Measuring publishing industry and publications distribution chain.
Resources	Measuring available resources at a national level with best available city allocations.
Textile Industry	Data points for textile supply chain through to finished production and sale.
Wine, Spirits & Brewing	Size and representation of alcohol industries covering wine, spirits and beer manufacturing.
Clerical Wages	Average wage affordability for a senior MS Office qualified clerical worker, and language fluency.
Labor Force	Labor force availability % applied to the population to show available workforce.
Working Visa	Time and cost of achieving working visa for qualified Western nationals.
Citizen Rights	Restrictions on citizen rights, such as freedom of speech, expression and potential non-structural separation of powers.
Policing	A community police force that is integrated and achieves lower crime and lower impact crime.
Separation of Powers	Structural separation and number of branches of government.
Container Freight	Container port efficiency in tonnage of port nearest to city, and relative ease of reaching port via road/rail.
Freight	Multi-modality of freight, and integration of freight modes.
Postal System	Postal services availability, and classifying reliability and frequency.
Railway Track	Measuring railway track available to a city using calculations.
Airport Transfers	Modes of airport transfer and direct integration and support on city transit networks.
Automobiles	Road quality and expansiveness, as well as car-sharing and environmental initiatives.
City Transport Infrastructure	Availability of protected and designated bicycle facilities, as well as bicycle support.
Inter-City Connections	Availability of super-fast/fast-rail (higher benchmarks), rail or alternately airports or buses (lower).
International Airport	Major modern airport with full facilities measured against best airports.
Service Delivery	Reliability of services, and amenity of services on an average day.
Service Frequency	Frequency of services to most suburban areas during the key peak and off-peak times.
Taxi Service	Availability, safety and reliability of taxi service and government policy towards taxis.
Transport Coverage	Distribution of multiple transport modes across the city in existing and new suburbs.
Crime	Measuring theft and predominately non-violent, non-lethal crime.
Violent Crime	Violent crime rates from murder, rape to assault and punishment effect localized at a city level.
Department Stores	Breadth and range of department stores of a general or specialist nature within city area.
Ecommerce Sales	The total volume and percentage of ecommerce shoppers within the city.
Local Markets	Local markets including delicatessens, fresh food and other small shop functions within city.
Local Shopping	Prevalence of ‘high street’ shops, and shopping ‘streets’ attractive to visitors, and/or ‘destination’ local malls with diverse (as well as global chain) wares.
Retail Establishment	The ease, predictability and facility of establishing a retail presence.
Small Retail Clusters	Retail cluster development in small and diverse mixed-use clusters.
Company Setup	How long does it take to set-up a private company? A more transparent, fast company process is part of entrepreneurial culture.
Growth Business Funding	Measuring the breadth and depth of venture capital availability options.
Start-Up Economy	Measuring the number of start-up enterprises, and relative strength of the 'start-up' economy at a city level.
Start-Up Office Spaces	Are the spaces for start-up or branch office companies to use for first offices? Do spaces allow collaboration? Are they affordable?
Broadband Internet	Measuring estimated broadband internet penetration the cities economy relative to competing cities.
Fixed Phone Network	Measuring the presence of a fixed phone network can be valuable in a crisis, and is still part of global business, even in a mobile world
Government IT Policy	Government should be a customer of local I.T. and promote trade and exports. Is government supporting I.T. development?
Internet Users	How many internet users are there in the city relative to competing cities?
Mobile Phone Network	Measuring how many mobile phone users there are relative to competing cities.
Wireless Internet	Wireless networks, and world class connectivity are a key part of business and service access in any global cities. Measuring business grade wireless.

Indicator	Measuring
Multi-Lingual	Multi-lingual cities, speaking major global languages, are open to further trade diversity than more isolated single language (or dialect) cultures.
Social Media	Social media is a modern tool and platform for enabling innovation, and low cost global business message communication.
City Branding	Perception of city brand (commonly referred to as Placemaking or City branding) now drives the potential economic opportunities presented to a city.
Smart Devices	Smart devices provide the mobile infrastructure to create technology that delivers innovative services to each city through apps and mobile browsers.
Embassies & Trade Ambassadors	The presence of trade and diplomatic facilities globally.
Relationships with Neighbors	Neighbor relationships impact trade and long-run economic wealth.
Domestic Market Health	The health of the domestic market at a city-level not national based on key industries. Accessible domestic market size estimated for economic area (within own borders).
Domestic Market Size	Accessible domestic market size estimated for economic area (within own borders).
Exports	Exports national data points. Also attributed to city level through calculation.
Foreign Direct Investment	Foreign direct investment is a key metric. Attributed to city level through calculation.
Imports	Imports at a national level. Attributed to city level through calculation.
Neighbors Market Size	Measures market size of immediate bordering or closest trading entities (states or nations, as applicable).
Reserves	National. Foreign exchange and gold reserves normalized into tiers. Includes calculations of city shares of reserves
Trade Diversity	Measuring the cities diversity of trading partners.
Trading Partners Economies	Health of major trading partners or free trade bloc for the city.
Freight Dependencies	How dependent is the city on foreign freight and what is the potential for blockages, loss or slowing of the supply chain?
Physical location	How favourable is the geographic position of the city, and how favourable the traditional geographic features?
Trade Routes	Where is the city relative to global trade routes, and how does the city work as a current or future juncture in physical trade?
Relative Military	What is the relative military strength of the state, and to a lesser extent, city in real terms?
Strategic Power	How is the perceived power of the city and it’s host nation expressed as an ability to enforce favourable terms of trade?

Indicators

Simplified Benchmark Score

Global Ranking

Data Points

Data Format

Cultural Assets

Human Infrastructure

Networked Markets