We all know there’s no way someone’s city ranking is going to communicate which city is ‘the best’. However, it may be helpful to provide a series of them, based on a diversity of criteria, that starts to give us at least a sense of which cities tend to be more appealing to cultural creatives and those in the creative workforce.

Here’s a look at some of these recent rankings…

Fast Cities 2010
Link. Fast Company magazine’s annual take on which cities are ‘blending the best and boldest ideas

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There’s really no way to provide a top ten list of cities for creatives, but here’s a series of city rankings on their interests. It goes to show the top cities aren’t leaders in a few categories, but many of them, with a common characteristic of diversity.

The Next Hot Youth-Magnet Cities” (The Wall Street Journal)
1. (Tie) Washington DC and Seattle, WA; 3. New York City; 4. Portland, OR; 5. Austin, TX; 6. San Jose; CA 7. Denver, CO; 8. Durham, NC; 9. Dallas, TX; 10. Chicago, IL; 11. Boston,

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Who says it doesn’t pay to walk?

A new CEOs for Cities study, Walking the Walk: How Walkability Raises Housing Values in U.S. Cities, surveying 94,000 real estate transactions in 15 metropolitan areas, concluded that homes in more walkable neighborhoods were valued $4000 to $34,000 more than less walkable ones.

Walk Score, profiled previously, has become a dependable resource for providing walkability ratings, from 0 being the least to 100 being the most walkable.  In the study, a one-point

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While Fast Company magazine crowned Seattle in their annual Fast Cities 2009 series, they listed twelve other cities that need to be recognized for their individual innovations.

Chicago - Last year’s winner, it’s I-Go Car Sharing program ties public car sharing to its transit system with one ‘Smart Card’.
Cleveland, Ohio - Their Reimagining a More Sustainable Cleveland initiative seeks to reclaim abandoned suburban lots back to nature.
Tucson, Arizona - It’s Healthy Tucson Initiative will

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Each year Fast Company magazine lists their favorite cities as far as generating “smarts, foresight, social consciousness, and creative ferment”. Seattle, Washington tops the list their Fast Cities 2009 this year (Chicago and London were #1 last year), while Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Houston, New Orleans, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Tucson in the U.S.; Taipei, Taiwan; Vancouver, Canada; and Malmo, Sweden were singled out for their innovations.

What’s the sign of a great city?  Check out

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