<\/a><\/p>\nFor years Dubai was \u201eahead by a nose\u201c. Whereas Abu Dhabi still lived in permanent hibernation, Dubai equtated hard work, celebration and settting up of various records. However, \u201eslowly but surely\u201c the biggest state of the United Arab Emirates built a new image. The Great Recession might have acted as some kind of midwife to let Abu Dhabi\u2019s star rise while Dubai\u2019s star seems to be waning.<\/p>\n
This is how PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) describes its decision to replace Dubai by Abu Dhabi in its latest edition of \u201eCities of Opportunity<\/a>\u201c (COP). Abu Dhabi, they say, \u201eis rising as a business center while Dubai\u2019s growth slowed markedly.\u201c Simply outdistanced.<\/p>\n Top-Ranks for Abu Dhabi<\/strong><\/p>\n Abu Dhabi, according to page 12 of the study, \u201cranks in the top three places in 10 different variables, from the quality of its air to its hospitals to commute time to its economic competitiveness in everything from tax rates to ease of hiring to working age population.\u201d For the categories \u201eSustainability\u201c (composed of: recycled waste, renewable energy, consumption, air pollution und city carbon footprint) and \u201eLifestyle assets\u201c (composed of: cultural vibrancy, sport and leisure activities, skyline impact, hotel rooms, international tourists) the Indian city of Mumbai gets higher scores than Abu Dhabi (score 71:28!). A result \u2013 I\u2019ve been to both cities -, that leaves me rather clueless. Concerning the sustainability I can only figure that the higher ranking for Mumbai is due to the fact that huge parts of the city do not have electricity at all and that the city itself might lost track of its waste production. Garbage collection? Negative Report! (Just think of the biggest slum in Asia \u201eDharavi<\/a>\u201c, which is in Mumbai\u2019s city centre). Is that logical: where nothing burns, nothing is burnt?<\/p>\n What is even more confusing to me is that Mumbai is supposed to offer more lifestyle assets than Abu Dhabi (30:21). Apart from the fact that Mumbai is one of the most ugly and dirty cities in the world to me (rats big as cats on the streets), it does not offer anything of cultural interest compared to Abu Dhabi (z.B. Saadiyat-Island<\/a>)! Granted you have the usual (American) luxury hotels (chains) and if you are fond of hanging around the hotel bar as many bored expats do, you might be thrilled. Possibly some people have fallen for the Bollywood feaver. But, please, where are the \u201einternational tourists\u201c and the \u201ecultural vibrancy\u201c in Mumbai???<\/p>\n Aufbau der Studie<\/strong><\/p>\n Once all of the 66 variables had been ranked and scored, they were placed into their 10 In view to the ranking one could allege lack of objectivity to PwC in impulse in the light of the fact that three North American cities are sharing rank one to three: (1) New York; (2) Toronto and (3) San Francisco. I suspect that world market economy has already chosen other fast-growing regions (above all China).<\/p>\n Let\u2019s have a look into some categories. To begin with: My opinion is naturally subjektive; inspired by many journeys abroad and many impressions gained on site. However, I cannot prove anything. Still, don\u2019t they say, just believe in statistics you\u2019ve forged yourself? <\/p>\n Ten categories<\/strong><\/p>\n The study is divided into ten categories: (1)Intellectual capital and innovation, (2) Technology readiness, (3) Transportation and infrastructure, (4) Health, safety and security, (5) Sustainability (6) Economic clout, (7) Ease of doing business, (8) Cost (9) Demographics and livability and (10) Lifestyle assets.<\/p>\n Let us just take one exemplification to stress my point: Transportation and infrastructure. The listing of Mumbai (rank 24) at all in this category is risible. Anybody who visited the Indian \u201efinancial hub\u201c might approve this. Just try to move by public transport through the city. I am sure, the PwC employees in charge did not even try. Certainly, Mumbai airport has a high volume of traffic and maybe also a solid route system. But there is only one direct connection to the United States and not long ago, the airport building, passenger handling as well as the security precautions merely lived up to the standards Europe had in the times of World War I or maybe behind the \u201eSafety Curtain\u201c shortly before the break up of the Soviet Union and the und the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Also duty free articles did not seem to have been part of the five-years-production-cylcle.<\/p>\n As a final footnote: Istanbul equals every US city in ease of starting a business; beats Tokyo, San Francisco and Berlin in international tourists and, finally ties for third with San Francisco, Sydney and Singapore (among other cities) for the quality of its air. Chapeau!<\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For years Dubai was \u201eahead by a nose\u201c. Whereas Abu Dhabi still lived in permanent hibernation, Dubai equtated hard work, celebration and settting up of various records. However, \u201eslowly but surely\u201c the biggest state of the United Arab Emirates built a new image. The Great Recession might have acted as some kind of midwife to let Abu Dhabi\u2019s star rise<\/p>\n
\nMoreover, it shares third place with New York and Istanbul (Istanbul has been added recently) in skyscraper construction activity. Altogether it reaches only rank 18, due to low scores in the categories of \u201eTechnology readiness\u201c, \u201eSustainability\u201c and \u201eLifestyle assets\u201c.<\/p>\n
\nindicators (for example, economic clout or demographics and livability). Within each
\nindividual group, the variable scores were summed to produce an overall indicator score
\nfor that topic. This produced 10 indicator league tables that display the relative performance<\/a>
\nof our 26 cities. The underlyinig key to the variables are visible on pages 79 \u2013 82. Sounds objective so far \u2013 but raises questions upon a close look into the study.<\/p>\n