If you only watch one video on the internet today, then I suggest you watch this one called Paris in Motion (Part 2). It was created by Paris-based photographer Mayeul Akpovi and it’s a beautiful time-lapse rendition of the City of Light. If you can’t see the video below, click here. Make sure you fullscreen it and turn your speakers on.

//player.vimeo.com/video/50467187

The video really does a great job of capturing the energy of the city. I think cities should consider commissioning videos like this in order to market themselves. If you enjoyed it, I recommend also checking out Part 4 of Paris in Motion.

Thanks to the Urbanophile for sharing this video series. That’s how I found out about it.

When most people think of brands, I suspect that they think of companies, products and services. But what about the brand of your city? As cities continue to compete for talent in the global economy, brand is becoming a hugely important differentiator.

I just stumbled upon the Anholt-GfK City Brands Index and here’s their 2013 ranking:

1. London
2. Sydney
3. Paris
4. New York
5. Rome
6. Washington D.C.
7. Los Angeles
8. Toronto
9. Vienna
10. Melbourne

The study looks at 6 key dimensions: presence, place, pre-requisites, people, pulse and potential.

What do you think of the above list?

Here’s a bit more information on how the index was prepared:

"The Anholt-GfK Roper City Brands Index measures the image of 50 cities based on more than 50 questions related to perceptions of their Presence, Place, Pre-requisite, People, Pulse and Potential.  For the 2013 study, a total of 5,144 interviews were conducted in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Russia, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States.  Adults age 18 or over who are online are interviewed in each country.  Using the most up-to-date online population parameters, the achieved sample in each country has been weighted to reflect key demographic characteristics including age, gender, and education of the online population in that country.  Fieldwork was conducted from May 8th to May 23rd, 2013."

I care a lot about transit.

I fundamentally believe that it needs to be the backbone of any well functioning and thriving metropolis. As the global economy continues to become an increasingly more urban one, we are seeing the rise of cities at a scale the world has never seen before.

Tokyo is over 37 million people. Jakarta is almost 27 million. Seoul is almost 23 million. And the list goes on. With cities of this size, do we really think it’s reasonable for everybody to be driving around in cars? It ain’t going to work.

Here’s an image from the Guardian, with the title, “Imagine if Paris had as many new cars as Mumbai”:

Now, by global standards, Toronto is a relatively small city, at just over 6 million people in the region.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t have challenges. In my view, the single biggest threat facing Toronto’s long term economic competitiveness is our severe infrastructure deficit. It’s impacting productivity levels, social cohesion, the environment, our global brand and many other things.

Because of this belief, I’ve become interested in the work of