Taking City Rankings Seriously
Engaging with Benchmarking Practices in Global Urbanism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4381653 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michele Acuto (0000-0003-4320-0531), Daniel Pejic (0000-0001-7304-5996), Jessie Briggs |
| Year | 2021 |
| Publication date | 2021-02-20 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0309-1317 • E-ISSN: 1468-2427 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/1468-2427.12974 |
| OpenAlex | W3131120287 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 12 |
| References cited | 56 |
Who cares if our case study city has dropped a place in the so-and-so list of such-and-such cities? Whilst city rankings are soaring to popularity in media reports and everyday practitioner parlance in municipalities and the consulting world, benchmarking exercises raise more than a few eyebrows within the field of urban studies. As we argue here, whilst not condoning the superficiality of some of these indices, this is an important problem that needs rebalancing. The ‘comparative imagination’ is today not just a renewed locus of urban theory debate, but an economy in its own right at the heart of networked forms of global urbanism, both in the public and private sectors. Reviewing the global landscape of rankings, the rise of a benchmarking industry and the questions that it raises for urban theorizing, our intervention asks urban studies to take rankings seriously. We argue that they have a key place in the changing imaginary of ‘comparative gestures’ and in shaping a more ‘global’ way of worlding by cities. We advocate theorizing ‘back’ to rankings and, building on debates on ‘urban science’, we call for more proactive participation in influencing the political economy of benchmarking
Benchmarking · Business · Economic growth · Economics · Economy · Geography · Global city · Political science · Politics · Popularity · Public relations · Regional science · Sociology · Urbanism · Global Urban Networks and Dynamics · Law · Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis · Urban Planning and Governance · Urban Studies · Architecture · Marketing
For or Against ‘The Business of Benchmarking’
Which city is the greenest? A multi-dimensional deconstruction of city rankings
Perceptual assessment of the quality of urban space - validation of criteria and metrics by older citizens
Evaluating inclusive policy
Capitalizing on European Capital Cities
Wayfinding in the Long Shadow of City Benchmarking
Assessing livability through human need theory
An assessment framework of global smart cities for sustainable development in a post-pandemic era
Unveiling urban governance diversity
Shaping a global comparative imagination? Assessing the role of city rankings in the “global city” discourse
Urban Policy Mobilities
From Budapest to Brussels
Metric Power
The Sage Handbook of the 21st Century City
The Data Revolution
Strategic Positivism∗
Expand the frontiers of urban sustainability
Cool Guys, Swots and Wimps
The role of rankings in growing city competition
Building a global urban science
The allure of ‘smart city’ rhetoric
On the difficulty of agreeing upon a universal logic for city standards
Constructing a universal logic of urban control
By our metaphors you shall know us’
Municipal statecraft
Thinking cities through elsewhere
Diversity, representation, and the limits of engaged pluralism in (economic) geography
Defining a Global Urban Development Agenda
Provincializing Global Urbanism
Actually Existing Comparative Urbanism
Engaging with “urban science”
A roster of world cities
Quality of city life multiple criteria analysis
City benchmarking
Quality of Life Indicators in U.S. Metropolitan Areas
Victims of their own (definition of) success
Measurement of the World City Network
Quality of Life and City Competitiveness
Reconfiguring urban governance in an age of rising city networks
Regional Competitive Intelligence
Doing global urban research
Performing real estate value(s)
Measuring Urban Sustainability
The Geography of Social Well-Being
Informing urban governance? Boundary‐spanning organisations and the ecosystem of urban data
Knowing and governing cities through urban indicators, city benchmarking and real-time dashboards
Geographies of policy knowledge
Smartmentality
Productive measures
Recentering Southeast Asian Cities
Debate on Global Urbanisms and the Nature of Urban Theory
Cities in a World of Cities
Beyond the Enclave of Urban Theory
Rankings and Reactivity
| Unique citing works | 12 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,4 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2026 (6) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 10 |