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Global real estate investors
to explore new target cities
London, 30 January 2012: Thirty world cities attract more than 50 per cent of all global investment in commercial real estate, with the top five cities - London, Tokyo, New York City, Hong Kong and Paris – accounting for almost one quarter of investment volume. International real estate consultants, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLLS), said that while a few emerging markets, such as Shanghai, Beijing, Moscow and Sao Paulo, had joined the top ranks, the ‘top 30’ had remained relatively consistent over recent years. But JLLS also believes that this decade will be one of change. “We believe that this will be the decade of change as investors widen their horizons across a much broader range of 300 plus cities, not only in new emerging markets but also in secondary and tertiary cities in mature economies,”

The company’s report A new World of Cities, which was published to coincide with this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, predicts that as the digital world erodes the need for physical clustering, will promote cities such as Mexico City, Delhi and Istanbul into the top echelons of investible cities.

According to the report, US cities will continue to hold considerable real estate weight. “Eleven US cities are expected to feature among the world’s top 30 largest cities (by GDP) by 2020. There are also notable pockets of dynamism in the US, with some of the world’s fastest growing mature cities over the next decade likely to be in the US – such as Austin Texas and Raleigh-Durham – driven by technology, high-value activities and a remarkable capacity for innovation.”

For European cities JLLS predicts that the disparity between winners and losers is likely to be even more marked over the next decade. “A capacity for innovation and reinvention will be a key differentiator for European cities. Besides Europe’s four mega cities - London, Paris, Moscow and Istanbul – which offer truly global scale, it will be Europe’s ‘high-value’ cities, such as Munich and Stockholm, with strong fundamentals and commitment to innovation, that will be best enabled to outperform in a low-growth environment.”

The JLLS report also says that China will dominate investment in the BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China). With the ten fastest-growing cities all being in China, their investment potential will outweigh the opportunities in other emerging markets.

The top ten cities for commercial real estate investment in 2011 are: London, New York City, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Paris, Singapore, Washington DC, Shanghai, Seoul and Toronto.

Nominations are sought for
the 2012 World Mayor Prize
London, 14 January 2012: The 2012 World Mayor Project was launched today by the City Mayors Foundation. City Mayors awards every two years the World Mayor Prize to a mayor who has been bold at community level but has also developed a vision for urban living that is relevant to towns and cities across the world. Previous winners include Marcelo Ebrard (Mexico City), Helen Zille (Cape Town), John So (Melbourne), Dora Bakoyannis (Athens) and Edi Rama (Tirana). The organisers of the World Mayor Project now invite nominations for the 2012 Prize.

City Mayors is looking for city leaders who excel in qualities like: leadership and vision, management abilities and integrity, social and economic awareness, ability to provide security and to protect the environment as well as the will and ability to foster good relations between communities from different cultural, racial and social backgrounds. The winner receives the critically acclaimed World Mayor Trophy, while the runner-up is given the World Mayor Commendation.

A spokesman for City Mayors also stressed that any mayor wishing to be considered for this year’s World Mayor Prize will have to sign up to the mayoral Code of Ethics. The Code has been instituted for mayors, who wish to perform their duties beyond all reproach.

The World Mayor Prize was first awarded in 2004 to the then Mayor of Tirana, Edi Rama. He was credited with transforming the post-communist capital of Tirana into a modern European metropolis. The 2005 Prize was given to Dora Bakoyannis for her contributions to the legacy of the 2004 Olympics. She later became Greeks foreign minister in the country’s centre-right government but left her party when it refused to support the austerity measures of the newly installed Socialist government.

In 2006, the World Mayor Prize went to John So, Lord Mayor of Melbourne. He was born in China, grew up in Hong Kong and moved to Melbourne in his teens. During the 1960s and 70s he campaigned against successive governments’ ‘White Australia’ policies. As a mayor of Asian heritage in the strongly diverse city, So championed links with other Asian cities.

The public life of Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille, the recipient of the 2008 World Mayor Prize, begun as a journalist during South Africa’s apartheid era. She emerged as a leading anti-apartheid critic, famously exposing the circumstances behind Steve Biko’s death under police custody in 1977. Helen Zille is now Western Cape premier, a success, which many put down to the achievements showcased in Cape Town during her tenure as mayor.

Marcelo Ebrard, Mayor of Mexico City and winner of the 2010 World Mayor Prize, has proved that he is a liberal reformer and pragmatist who shows no fear of challenging Mexico’s orthodoxy. He has championed women’s and minorities’ rights and has become an outspoken and internationally respected advocate on environmental issues.

World capitals to apply
for new domain names
London, 14 January 2012: Since Thursday, 12 January 2012, anyone can apply for generic top-level domains (gTLDs). gTLDs are the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical domain name system of the internet and are the suffixes such as (dot)com, (dot)org or (dot)co.uk. Several cities including London, Tokyo, New York, Paris, Berlin and Moscow have said they would apply for a city gTLD. A spokesman for Moscow City Hall told City Mayors that the city had already presented claims for (dot)Moscow and (dot)Moskva. London and Tokyo have also said they would apply for their respective gTLDs.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which runs the web’s Domain Name System, has already received 120 applications for new domains from transnational corporations, world capitals and various communities. Rod Beckstrom, the corporation’s CEO, said ICANN began accepting applications for new top-level domains at one minute past midnight on Thursday.

The first application window for new gTLDs will close on 12 April and ICANN will then post the domain names applied for, along with the names of the entities that have chosen them. The new domains will go public by the end of 2012, ICANN has projected.

It will cost US$185,000 (€240,000) to license a new gTLD over 10 years, plus a $10,000 per year fee. But industry experts expect the real costs to be considerably higher. City Mayors was told that for a company to register its brand as a gTLD and launch it on the internet would cost several million dollars. “Many smaller companies, and indeed cities, will just not be able to afford such an investment.”

London has put the licence to operate its gTLD out to tender, with a partner likely to be selected in February for a five year contract. Tokyo says it will allow local firm GMO Registry to apply to operate the (dot)tokyo domain, with the company hopeful that other Japanese cities will follow. At least four other cities and regions in Japan are at the stage of approving such registrations with internet domain regulator ICANN ahead of April’s deadline.

Any city-based domain name must have the approval of the relevant local government in order to prevent cyber-squatting of its identity, even if it has not formally applied for a gTLD itself.

Meanwhile some Canadian cities have bought internet domain names with the (dot)xxx suffix - which is reserved for websites with ‘adult’ content - in an effort to protect their image. Cities are worried that so-called ‘domain squatters’ will buy the names of frequently searched city departments and redirect users to porn sites.

The City of Saskatoon has purchased six x-rated domain names, such as Saskatoon.xxx. "We were concerned about our public image, about the profile we have, and also for the citizens of Saskatoon," a spokesman for the city said. "Really quite unhappy about the fact that somebody could actually have a porn site when people think they are coming to the city to do business."

The City of Regina is also planning to purchase domain names like Regina.xxx.

Researchers can’t agree on
the world’s most expensive city
London, 7 December 2011: This year, Luanda (Angola), Oslo (Norway) and Tokyo (Japan) have separately been named the world’s most expensive city by three different research organisations. But while human resources consultants Mercer and ECA as well as Swiss bank UBS can’t agree on the costliest city, their research reports offer some similarities. Tokyo, Zurich and Geneva feature in the top ten of all three studies. However, while Mercer maintains that Luanda is still the most expensive city for foreign operatives, ECA says the Angolan capital, which it placed at the top two years ago, was falling rapidly down the table to this year’s rank 11. All three reports also place US cities lower than twelve month ago but largely due to the depreciation of the US dollar against many major currencies.

The reports are published for the benefit of global companies who use the data to award appropriate remuneration packages to their overseas operatives. Most of the research is carried out locally and the raw findings are later translated into US dollars, which means that any changes are as much the result of currency fluctuations as of price inflation. For example according to all three surveys, the cost of living in European cities becomes more expensive if the dollar weakens even when local prices remain unchanged.

This year’s 10 most expensive cities by Mercer, UBS and ECA