Tel Aviv runner-up in innovative city competition
By GLOBES
03/04/2013 17:34
Tel Aviv lost out to Medellin, but beat New York City, in the competition organized by The Wall Street Journal and Citi.
Israelis and tourists at Tel Aviv beach Photo: REUTERS/Havakuk Levison
Tel Aviv is the runner-up in the 2013 City of the Year competition, organized by The Wall Street Journal and Citi. Tel Aviv lost out to Medellin, but beat New York City.
The City of the Year competition is a global advertising program developed in partnership with The Urban Land Institute to recognize the most innovative urban centers. Cities were selected based on eight criteria: environment & land use, culture & livability, economic / investment climate, progress & potential, places of power, education & human capital, technology & research, and mobility & infrastructure. The rankings were based on more than 980,000 online votes cast during the program.
Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai said that since the city was founded, it has been a leader in innovative and breakthrough thinking, and that, in recent years, it has consolidated its position as one of the world's centers of innovation and entrepreneurship. "We already see the flourishing economic results and investment inflow," he said.
Tel Aviv is known as a global tourist center, with a rich cultural tapestry and entertainment scene. Its latest title joins a long list of other titles by the foreign media, including one of the top ten cities for architecture fans; the second of the top ten travel destinations by rentals site Airbnb; one of the top ten tourist destinations in the Middle East and Africa by MasterCard International Inc.; and the world's best gay tourist center in the Gay Cities Competition in January, winning 43% of the votes.
The New York Times crowned Tel Aviv as the Capital of Cool in the Middle East; Foreign Policy cited it as one of the world's 50 top cities; Forbes says it is one of the world's growing cities; Lonely Planet says it is one of the top three hottest tourist destinations; Newsweek includes it in its list of start-up cities of the 21st century; National Geographic lists it as one of the top ten coastal cities of the world; and Toronto's Globe and Mail says it is one of the five most creative cities in the world.