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By Stephanie Crawford

According to early findings from our new methodology, ‘Urban Behaviours’ the answer appears to be Leeds, although Birmingham and Liverpool are statistically close enough to put forward a strong case!

Our study into the behaviours of the 15-35 year old urban dwellers has enabled us to produce a League Table of our Cityscape, which is equally weighted across five public issues. Each city is scored by it’s own urban dwellers, and reflects the proportion of those who rated their city Good/Excellent on:

• Public Transport (efficiency and value)
• Services/Amenities
• Appearance/Cleanliness
• Low or Reasonable Crime Levels
• Entertainment value

Although we have provisionally applied equal weighting to each of the five issues highlighted above, the importance of each public issue differs depending on the different lifestyle needs of those living in each city. Each group provides strong clues as to how we construct our lifestyle. Click here to see an overview of these groups.

For example, WorkDynamics are more concerned about public transport within their city than HomeDrivenDynamics; and SocioDynamics will place more importance on Entertainment than might Homeostatics. The key to the optimal provision local amenities, then, is not only understanding that individual cities consist of different proportions of each typology, but also in recognising that each of these groups has specific public issues on which they will place premium importance.    

London, despite being the capital City, rates a low 6^th in our Cityscape. Whilst scoring top marks for Entertainment (81% of the City sample perceive Entertainment here to be Good/Excellent; and none believe it to be Poor), it scores relatively low on other public issues. Perhaps the most telling of the statistics is that the City is placed 7^th on public transport, with only 53% of Londoners rating the cost and efficiency of this as of high standard. This may be cause for concern considering the high proportion of WorkDynamics in London and the increased need to use this public service (48% of the City population use public transport, and 86% have to commute for up to an hour).

Bristol is rated lowest in our league table from the eight cities, as it consistently scored relatively poorly on each of the five public issues discussed. For example, it was rated as Good/Excellent on appearance/cleanliness by only 40% of the city sample; and a low 46% rated public transport (efficiency and value) within the city as of a high standard. Although there is a relatively high proportion of WorkDynamics in the City (37%), only 25% of the city sample use public transport – with the majority opting to use their own car. Their decision to do this may indeed be explained by the poor standard of public transport provided in the city, and should cause reasonable concern for the relevant authorities in Bristol.

Leeds performs relatively well across all five issues. It is rated 2^nd for having a high standard of Entertainment, with 79% of the City sample rating this as Good/Excellent. This is an important concern for the high proportion of SocioDynamics within this City. Likewise, and equally as important for the same reason, Manchester also scored relatively highly on this issue (placing it 3^rd for Entertainment across the Cityscape).

Over time, as these results are based on an ever-increasing base of responses, we will learn more about which is the undisputed ‘best’ city. And we will also learn a lot more about what factors affect the ratings of individual cities more. We have outlined our early thoughts below.

Further discussion of the individual City profiles can be found by clicking here.

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