Barcelona among top 10 cities in the world in brand, reputation and attractiveness

Barcelona has consolidated its positive economic and business positioning on the world stage in most of the indicators compiled in the Barcelona Observatory 2014 Report, an initiative of the Barcelona City Council and the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce that compares the Catalan capital with other large cities around the world.

The report shows that Barcelona is among the top 10 cities in the world in issues that are key to the city’s economic development, like brand, reputation, attractiveness for working, future outlook and number of foreign investment projects.

Furthermore, Barcelona was ranked sixth in the world for best global brand in 2014 according to the Guardian Cities Global Brand Barometer – Saffron, ahead of Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco, Istanbul, Milan and Berlin. This ranking assesses the main urban areas on the planet and is headed up by Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris and Seoul. Likewise, Barcelona was ranked ninth among the cities with the best reputation in 2014, according to the City Rep Track – Reputation Institute report. Barcelona has jumped fourteen spots and is now behind Vienna, Munich, Vancouver and London but ahead of Montreal, Amsterdam, Paris and New York on this report that assess factors like effective governance and advanced economy.

Barcelona is also seventh among the most attractive world cities for working abroad, just ahead of Toronto, Singapore and Rome on the ranking led by London and New York. This data is from the report Decoding Global Talent 2014 – The Boston Consulting Group. The Scorecard on Prosperity 2014 – Toronto Board of Trade ranks the city fifth in the same area.

Moreover, Barcelona is ranked seventh among European cities with the best outlook for the future and sixth in the world in terms of the best strategy to attract international investment (FDi Cities and Regions of the Future 2014/2015 – fDi Magazine). It must be noted, as well, that the Catalan capital is ranked sixth among the main urban areas in Europe in foreign investment received (European Attractiveness Survey 2014 – Ernst&Young), and tenth in the world (Global Cities Investment Monitor 2014 – KPMG).

The report also highlights that Barcelona is a global benchmark in smart cities, focusing on the development of technology for smart city management, and is ranked fourth among the top smart cities in Europe, only surpassed by Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Vienna (The 10 Smartest Cities In Europe 2014 – Fast Co.Exist).