fDi magazine’s April/May issue has named its North American Cities of the Future.  (See table below for full results.) fDi researchers took more than six months to select the “top ten” shortlists of cities of all sizes with the best strategies and resources for economic development. Courtney Fingar, editor of fDi magazine, said: “fDi magazine’s City of the Future rankings reflect an independent panel of judges’ views on each city according to seven selection factors.  As part of the selection process, nine judges reviewed nominations from 108 cities on more than 60 criteria designed to assess cities’ potential to attract business investment projects.”

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fDi’s shortlists identify Juarez, Chihuahua as the top “large" City of the Future. Although Juarez is only the eighth largest city in Mexico, fDi’s judges noted its growing importance as a regional industrial and logistics centre on the border between Mexico and the United States.

About fDi’s Cities of the Future shortlists

This is the first time that cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico have competed directly against one another in fDi’s Cities of the Future research.  As well as naming North America’s top ten major Cities of the Future, the ranking lists the top ten large, small and micro cities. The short-listed cities are those that scored most highly in the following areas:

• Economic potential

• Cost effectiveness

• Human resources

• Quality of life

• Infrastructure

• Business friendliness

• Development and investment promotion

fDi magazine’s "Locations of the Future" competition has been running for five years and covers almost every region across the world. The methodology is designed to identify those cities that have the basics in place to flourish in the next few years by attracting high levels of inward investment.  The shortlists are created by asking cities to provide data and qualitative information in much the same way investors approach locations during the screening process used to decide which are suitable for capital investment projects.

fDi’s Locations of the Future competition covers each region once every two years and is currently accepting entries from the following:

- Caribbean and Central American Countries of the Future

- Central American and Caribbean Special Economic Zones of the Future 2007/08

- African Countries of the Future

- African Special Economic Zones of the Future

For further information about the rankings please contact charles.piggott@ft.com. 

Methodology

In the second half of 2006, fDi magazine invited key cities across North America to answer more than 60 questions in the seven broad categories listed below. A total of 108 cities were considered by fDi’s panel of judges, which scored each city according the criteria listed below.

Cities were categorized by size so that cities across North America could compete against each other on a level basis:

• Major: population of over two million

• Large: 500,000 - 2 million

• Small: 100,000 - 500,000

• Micro: under 100,000

Cities scored up to a maximum of ten points for each criteria. The winners in each category are the cities that scored the most points in that category and the overall winner is the city that scored the most points across all seven categories.

Cities were scored by members of fDi’s editorial team and by independent guest judges (see judging panel below).  Don Holbrook, board member, International Economic Development Council in Washington, who is also writing a book on world class cities, Dan Malachuk, fDi’s US columnist and a strategist for the public and private sector, Todd Malan, president and chief executive officer of the Organization for International Investment in Washington Daoud Awad, executive managing director, operational planning, New York, Region Corporate Services for The Staubach Company, Miguel Noyola, partner in charge of the Mexico practice in Chicago and Washington offices of law firm Baker McKenzie, Steve Demmings, president, Site Selection Canada.

fDi’s Locations of the Future competition covers each region once every two years. The next North American Cities of the Future competition will be published in 2009.  If you are interested in attending fDi’s presentation at BIO 2007, or working with fDi as it expands its North American coverage, please contact david.east@ft.com.

Cities of the Future Criteria

Economic Potential

- Percentage of the population under 25

- Adult unemployment level in 2005

- Change in adult unemployment 2003 to 2005

- Average annual earnings of employees in 2005

- Average annual earnings growth 2004 to 2005

- Fiscal balance 2005

- Fiscal balance 2004

- FDI stock per capita at the city level

- FDI stock per capita at the state/province level

- Foreign direct investment in 2005

- Number of foreign investment deals signed in 2005

- Three most significant inward investment projects

Cost Effectiveness

Town centre office rental costs

Out of town office rental costs

Factory/industrial premises rental costs

Warehouse rental costs

Town centre office purchase costs

Out of town office purchase costs

Factory/industrial premises purchase costs

Warehouse purchase costs

Secretarial salaries

Entry level manager salaries

Middle manager salaries

Senior manager salaries

Manual worker wages

Electricity tariffs for business/industrial users

Water tariffs for business/industrial users

Gas tariff for business/industrial users

Unleaded fuel costs

Diesel fuel costs

Human Resources

- Number of university-level educational institutions in the city

- Number of university-level educational institutions in the state/province

- Leading university and research institutions in the city

- Leading university and research institutions in the state/province

- Number of student graduates in 2005

- Percentage of the city population with a university-level degree

- Number of “World top-200” universities

- Government-sponsored worker training programs

Quality of Life

- Best housing areas

- Average residential property purchase price

- Average residential rental costs

- Public and private healthcare facilities

- Leading schools

- Leading international schools

- Cultural and environmental heritage

- Incidents of crime per thousand people

Infrastructure

- Strategic transport links

- Mobile phone ownership (% of adult population)

- Internet connection speeds (maximum available bandwidth)

Business Friendliness

- Basic level of corporate taxation

- Business-related taxes at the city level

- Business-related taxes at the state/province level

- Property transaction tax

- Number of out-of-state companies in the city

- Number of out-of-state companies in the state/province

- Number of jobs created by out of state investment in the past year

- Mandatory employer contributions, e.g. welfare taxes, healthcare benefits

FDI Promotion Strategy

- Sectors targeted for inward investment

- Financial support available to investors

- Non-financial investment support available to investors

- Major infrastructure and urban planning projects

- Environmental strategies and grants

Top ten large cities

1 Juárez Chihuahua Mexico

2 El Paso Texas United States

3 Columbus Ohio United States

4 Edmonton Alberta Canada

5 Charlotte North Carolina United States

6 Santiago de Querétaro Querétaro Mexico

7 Austin Texas United States

8 Philadelphia City Pennsylvania United States

9 Nuevo Laredo Tamaulipas Mexico

10 Toledo Ohio United States

Large cities - best human resources

1 Philadelphia Pennsylvania United States

2 Austin Texas United States

3 Richmond Virginia United States

4 El Paso Texas United States

5 Charlotte North Carolina United States

Large cities – best infrastructure

1 Philadelphia Pennsylvania United States

2 Charleston South Carolina United States

3 Juárez Chihuahua Mexico

4 Phoenix Arizona United States

5 Las Vegas Nevada United States

Large cities - most cost effective

1 Juárez Chihuahua Mexico

2 El Paso Texas United States

3 Santiago de Querétaro Mexico Querétaro

4 Columbus Ohio United States

5 Nuevo Laredo Tamaulipas Mexico