Opportunity Awaits in Toronto!

Yet again, Toronto is reported to be one of the top places to live in the world; this year by the sixth edition of Cities of Opportunity, which ranks our city fourth!

Cities of Opportunity is a study that has been examining the strengths and progress of worldwide cities in terms of growth potential and overall opportunity since 2007. Conducted by the experts at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a multinational professional services network, the study is an ongoing investigation on what policies and approaches work best for people and economies on a global platform. Categories were organized into three main “families” that are expected to determine the overall experience of urban life, with particular emphasis on balance. This way, no category will outweigh another; each will act as a factor in the complete metropolitan experience.

The three main categories to rank 30 cities are: Tools for a changing world, Quality of life, and Economics. In Tools for a changing world, experts took into consideration the measure of intellectual capital, technology readiness and a city’s availability or openness as a “global hub.” Quality of life reflects both tangible measures of ease of life, factoring in transportation and health care accessibility, as well as intangible, emotional factors like cultural experiences and ardor. For Economics, the city’s success in business and finance centres is examined.

With firms in over 150 countries worldwide, the study asked PwC professionals in these 30 cities to provide feedback regarding their personal urban experiences. The results from 15,000 respondents who were asked to gauge the ease or difficulty of their commute and give their relocation preferences helped provide valuable insight that has been previously overlooked in past editions.

Last year’s edition showed that London and New York City were tied in score, but this year’s analysis placed London in first byways of technology readiness, economic clout and city gateway. Falling shortly behind, New York City was revealed by the study to also show signs of global strength in most categories, in terms of overall balance, though not distinguishing specific strengths in any specific category.

Advancing from 7th place in last year’s edition, Singapore excelled in this year’s study, placing the Southeast Asian country in third place. Though the leap shows impressive progress, most importantly, Singapore was praised for its extraordinary transportation and infrastructure development and ease of doing business.

Categories in which Toronto was notable, include, most importantly for us at Newinhomes.com, transportation and infrastructure! Coming in second in this category, after Singapore, Toronto’s push for infrastructure and transportation development reveal great future prospects on the horizon-- so maybe long-term construction (and traffic) on the Gardiner is already paying off! Not to mention all the incredible residential developments popping up around the city. With future developments including the Mirvish+Gehry project on King St. West and the projects planned along the waterfront, we’re sure Toronto will be a top contestant next year as well.