After nine months of research, Britain's Foreign Direct Investment magazine has released the results of its North American Cities of the Future competition. The competition included four categories: major cities (over 2,000,000 population), large cities (500,000 to 2,000,000), small cities (100,000 to 500,000) and "micro" cities (up to 100,000). The rankings were based on seven criteria: economic potential, cost effectiveness, human resources, quality of life, infrastructure, business friendliness, and development and investment promotion.
As a Calgarian, living in a city topsy-turvy with insanely rapid growth, I suspected we would rate tops in our category. Not so. We weren't even in the top 10. Worse, Edmonton was number four. Humiliating.
Other Canadian cities did very well, Toronto coming second only to Chicago in the major cities category, and Windsor ranking first among small cities.
It must be said that some of the choices were questionable. Juarez, Mexico, was ranked first among large cities, for example. I ask you -- Juarez?
But enough of the sour grapes. Kudos to Toronto and Windsor, and as for my home town ... well, maybe growth isn't everything
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