YOUTHFULCITIES

GLOBAL INDEX 2015

E X E C U T I V E S U M M A RY
RANKING THE WORLD'S 55 MOST YOUTHFUL CITIES

LETTER FROM THE GLOBAL DIRECTOR

Greetings!

SONJA MIOKOVIC

Global Director, YouthfulCities

Congratulations New York! The City that Never Sleeps is now deemed the

My enthusiastic thank you to the 500+ people at YouthfulCities those youth

2015 Youthful City of the Year ranked the worlds most attractive, best-

decoders scattered around the globe in 55 countries. You worked long and

suited city for young people aged 15 to 29.

hard collecting 5,555 points of data, using 101 different indicators, across 20

It was a close contest this year. New York edged London to take the top

urban attributes (including transit, employment and sports).

spot. The research scored NYC particularly high in terms of Music, Film and

The hard work of everyone at YouthfulCities IS making a difference.

Fashion. London was a close second, scoring well in Health and Travel. Berlin

The rich and comprehensive reservoir of youth-centric knowledge we have

was found to have high levels of digital access. Last years winner, Toronto,

helped gather is empowering and engaging civic leaders to build better,

dropped to sixth place in the new ranking.

connected, dynamic, open, fun, curious, inventive cities.

But a lower rank doesnt necessarily mean a city is less youthful than last year.

Civic leaders, policy makers and municipal strategists in cities around the world

For this years Index we more than doubled the number of cities on the list,

are beginning to recognize youth as their citys greatest assets. Youth are now

heating up the competition for those who ranked last year. We also increased

widely recognized to be the worlds largest untapped resource and the

the number of indicators we measure all with an eye to building a bigger,

secret sauce to driving a citys competitive edge, stimulating development, and

better, more robust Index.

finding new solutions to pressing urban problems.

And remember, every single city on this list is youthful, regardless of its

Yes its true! Youthful cities are on the rise. Together, we are at a time of

position. Of a total of 1,600 points, the lowest cities on the list accumulated

unprecedented opportunity to transform the places we live, work and play.

roughly 40%, while the top cities on the list accumulated roughly
60%. This means that every city has something to celebrate
something that stands out as incredibly youthful,
inspiring, dynamic and inventive. It also
means that every city also has room for
improvement. Opportunities to connect

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

with youth to develop innovative and

Come join us! YouthfulCities is looking forward to partnering with municipalities

the world over to attract and engage youth to fulfill their ambitions and shape
the future of the planet. Check out page 11 of this report to see how we can
engage youth in your community.
We invite you read the full report and reach out to join us. We look forward to
speaking with you!

sustainable solutions for building

We would like to extend an enormous thank you to our

better, more youthful cities.

many partners and collaborators.

Sincerely,

Countless champions of all ages have contributed to

our immense success. These are our data collectors,
academics and passionate city builders and volunteers
from across all sectors.
A special thanks to the energy and enthusiasm that our

Special Thanks To

network has contributed.

EXPATISTAN
WWW.EXPATISTAN.COM
The collaborative, crowd-sourced international cost
of living index - Wed like to thank Expatistan for

22

providing us full and open access to cost of

living data in all our cities.
3

T H E 2 0 C R I T I C A L U R B A N AT T R I B U T E S

BY THE NUMBERS

The most important urban attributes according to more than 10,000 youth
surveyed since 2013 these attributes make up the YouthfulCities Index

EUROPE

The worlds 55 most youthful cities

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HOW WE DEFINE YOUTH

YOUTHFULCITIES IS A GLOBAL
I N I T I AT I V E T O R A N K T H E W O R L D S T O P
100 CITIES FROM A YOUTH PERSPECTIVE.
AND LEAD A UNIQUE URBAN
R E G E N E R AT I O N I N T H E P R O C E S S .

Definitions of youth vary around the world at YouthfulCities we built our own
that is reflective of multiple regional definitions.

WHY?
S I M P LY P U T,
CITIES ARE FULL OF YOUTH.

At YouthfulCities we define youth as

those 15-29 years old. Definitions for
youth range around the world. In regions
such as Africa, LATIN AMERICA, and Asia
youth is often defined as those 15-34 years
Youth are at the center of urbanization. They build a

We believe youth are good for cities and cities are

citys competitive edge, stimulate development and

good for youth. Every day we bring this belief to life

find new solutions. They are connectors. They are

by illuminating and decoding the global power of

curious. They are inventive. They are dynamic. They

urban youthfulness. By building youth networks and

are the future of cities.

diving into youth-driven urban data. By exposing

insights that captivate leaders across all generations

In 2012 we discovered two amazing stats that set

and sectors. And by generating inventive solutions

our social venture in motion: 50 per cent of the

from youth outward.

old. In North America and Europe youth are

normally defined as those between 15-24.
With our definition we mitigate regional
difference and represent the breadth of life
stages that young people experience,
from adolescence to adulthood.

world's population is under 30 years of age and 50

per cent of the world's population now live in cities.

Each year with the help our booming

Urban Decoder Network we

The future of the world will be determined by the

Survey youth through the YouthfulCities Urban

Attitudes Survey, gauging opinions of tens of

progression of urbanization as it is molded by youth.

thousands of youth (15 -29 year olds) globally

While this provides strong motivation for cities to

maximize the potential of youth, their opinions are

Rank cities through the YouthfulCities Index

now ranking 50+ cities around the globe.

often unrecognized. There are countless indexes and

rankings of cities, but none with a youth perspective.

Gather young innovators and influencers at the

YouthfulCities Global Summit

Until now.

Work with open-minded businesses and

municipalities to investigate and inspire
youthfulness

We decided to find out what would happen if we

were able to inspire and engage thousands of

And there is so much more to come.

young people to reimagine the places where they

live, work and play.

We do all of this with the goal of leading cities

toward youthfulness and boosting prosperity and

So... YouthfulCities was born!

happiness for all citizens of the worlds 100 biggest

cities by 2025.

OUR YOUTHFUL CITIES PRINCIPLES

BRINGING THE INDEX TO LIFE

At YouthfulCities we work hard to ensure that everything we do reflects

the guiding principles that define our organization. Our foundational
belief is that youth are good for cities and cities are good
for youth and we live by that every day.

Our Index doesnt come together overnight.

Curious about what goes on behind the rankings? Read on!

PRINCIPLES

6 MONTHS OF
HARD WORK
BY OVER 500 PEOPLE
COLLECTING
5 , 5 5 5 P O I N T S O F D ATA
A C R O S S 2 0 AT T R I B U T E S
AND 55 COUNTRIES
WE ARE CONNECTORS
GENERATIONS, KNOWLEDGE,
IDEAS, SECTORS

WE ARE DYNAMIC
FLEXIBLE AND NIMBLE
IN SEEKING OUT
OPPORTUNITIES

WE ARE OPEN

CELEBRATING DIVERSITY,
INCLUSIVENESS, AND SHARING

WE ARE CURIOUS

How do cities rank from a youth perspective?

that provide quantifiable measurements of

Thats the simple question we posed in 2013

how a city actually performs. For example,

when we started YouthfulCities. So we set out

within the Live theme, one attribute is Transit.

to design the tools to quantitatively answer

Within the Transit attribute, indicators include

that question.

cost of transit, breadth of transit, hours of

operation, bicycle share programs, and

To define what urban attributes matter to youth,

walkability, to name a few. In total we have

we designed a massive survey of youth living

developed more than 100 indicators across

in cities the Urban Attitudes Survey. Over two

our 20 urban attributes. With the help of our

years we have surveyed more than 10,000

global youth network, we collect the data for

youth around the world. The Survey identified

each indicator in each attribute, across each

20 urban attributes that fit nicely into three key

theme, in each of the 50+ cities in our index.

themes Live, Work and Play (see page 13 for

more details). Youth rated all attributes on a 10

Six months of effort by hundreds of youth

point scale, telling us which ones were most

in some of the world's biggest cities leads

important to them. They also told us how they

to over 5,000 points of data all dated,

perceived their citys performance on

sourced, and then scientifically calculated to

those same attributes.

build the YouthfulCities Index and answer

our founding question: how do cities rank

EXPLORING, ASKING QUESTIONS,

SEARCHING FOR DEEPER INSIGHTS

WE ARE INVENTIVE

FROM THE WAY WE WORK TO THE

URBAN SOLUTIONS WE DEVELOP

Once we had a clear set of attributes on

from a youth perspective?

which to measure the youthfulness of cities, we

confidently moved to designing and building

For a more detailed explanation of our

the YouthfulCities Index. Within each of our 20

methodology, please see page 100.

urban attributes, we identified key indicators

WE ARE
P L AY F U L

ENJOYING THE JOURNEY

THE CITIES IN OUR INDEX

We've more than doubled our presence
we're now in 55 cities around the world.

EUROPE
AMSTERDRAM
BERLIN
LONDON
MADRID
MOSCOW

We selected the 55 cities in the Index

based on three main considerations:

PARIS

USA/CANADA
BOSTON

ROME

ASIA/AUSTRALIA

WARSAW

BANGKOK
HONG KONG

CHICAGO

JAKARTA

DALLAS

1. Population: What are the most populated cities

KARACHI

DETROIT

MANILA

LOS ANGELES

in each of the 6 regions of the world?

MUMBAI

MIAMI

DELHI

MONTREAL

OSAKA

NEW YORK CITY

SEOUL

SAN FRANCISCO

2. Geographical representation within a region:

SHANGHAI

TORONTO

Are we ensuring that cities are selected from

SINGAPORE

VANCOUVER

SYDNEY

WASHINGTON, DC

different geographical areas within a region?

TOKYO

(For example: In the USA, are we representing

MIDDLE EAST

cities that span west coast to east coast?)

BEIRUT
DUBAI

LATIN AMERICA

3. Local engagement: Do we have the local support

ISTANBUL

BOGOTA

TEHRAN

of Urban Decoders, youth, and municipalities

BUENOS AIRES

TEL AVIV

to ensure we can collect reliable and accurate

LIMA

information across all of our Attributes and

QUITO

CARACAS
MEXICO CITY
RIO DE JANEIRO

indicators?

SAO PAULO

AFRICA
CAIRO
CASABLANCA
DAR ES SALAAM
DURBAN
JOHANNESBURG
LAGOS
NAIROBI

10

11

DEFINING CITY BOUNDARIES

Before data was collected, Urban Decoders in each of the 55 cities set out the
municipal boundaries for their city. These local representatives defined the
municipal boundaries in a way that was relevant for youth and data collection.

City

Area (km) Definition Used

Accra

173

City of Accra

Manila

Amsterdam

164

City of Amsterdam

Mexico City

1495

Federal District

City of Bangkok

Miami

4916

Miami-Dade County

Bangkok

1568

638

Metropolitan Manilla

Beirut

100

Urban Area of Beirut

Montreal

1545

Urban Area of Montreal

Berlin

892

City of Berlin

Moscow

2511

City of Moscow

Bogota

528

City of Bogot

Mumbai

458

City of Mumbai; Capital of Maharashtra state

Boston

125

City of Boston; Massachusetts State Capital

Nairobi

696

City of Nairobi

Buenos Aires

203

City of Buenos Aires; Argentine Capital City

New York City

786

Cairo

528

City of Cairo
223

Designated City of Osaka

817

The Metropolitan District of Caracas; The five municipalities of

Libertador, Chacao, Sucre and El Hatillo

Osaka

Caracas

Paris

762

The urban area of Paris and Petit Couronne

(departments 75, 92, 93, 94)

Quito

372

San Francisco de Quito

Casablanca

387

City of Casablanca

Chicago

606

City of Chicago

Dallas

999

City of Dallas

The five boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan,

Staten Island and the Bronx

Rio De Janeiro

1200

Municipality of Rio de Janeiro

Rome

1287

City of Rome; Roma Capitale

Dar Es Salaam

1393

City of Dar es Salaam

Delhi

1484

Urban Area of Delhi

Oakland

Detroit

138

City of Detroit

Dubai

4114

Durban

San Francisco-

265

Combined cities of San Francisco and Oakland

Santiago

614

City of Santiago

City of Dubai

Sao Paulo

1522

2292

Metropolitan Area of Durban

Seoul

Hong Kong

1104

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Shanghai

3800

Istanbul

5196

City-Province of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (MMI)

Singapore

718

Jakarta

664

Special Capital Region of Jakarta

Sydney

12367

Metropolitan Sydney

605

Municipality of Sao Paulo

Special City of Seoul
Urban Area of Shanghai
Republic of Singapore

Johannesburg

1645

Metropolitan Johannesburg

Tehran

730

Urban Area of Tehran

Karachi

3527

City of Karachi

Tel Aviv

170

Core Tel Aviv + Inner Metropolitan Ring

Lagos

738

City of Lagos

Tokyo

Lima

2819

City of Lima

Toronto

630

City of Toronto; The old municipality of Metropolitan Toronto

London

1572

Greater London

Vancouver

114

City of Vancouver

Los Angeles

1302

City of Los Angeles

Warsaw

517

Miasto stoeczne Warszawa; Capital City of Warsaw

City of Madrid

Washington

177

District of Columbia

Madrid

605

12

2187

Tokyo Metropolis

13

OUR INDEX METHODOLOGY

The YouthfulCities Index is the result of an inclusive six-month
process, engaging hundreds of youth researchers around the world.

Normalizing the YouthfulCities Global Index data

Ranking the YouthfulCities Global Index data

Once data is checked it needs to be normalized in order to accurately

Once all data is normalized, the 55 cities in the YouthfulCities Global

compare each city:

Index are ranked using a scoring system that takes the normalized data

Where necessary, data is converted to metric units

All cost-based data is normalized to US dollars, measured against the

from each of the 101 indicators and translates every data point into
weighted scores via the following:

average value of the local currency, January 1 to December 31, 2013

number is the most desirable for youth. For example:

Since were motivated by a desire to measure cities from the

perspective of youth, and since reliable average youth income data

was collected between September 2014 and April 2015

and largely reflects information current for 2013-2014.

Our methodology is made up of two key steps:

1.

Determining what to measure in cities. We use our

Urban Attitudes Survey: A quantitative survey of

In November 2013 we launched the first YouthfulCities

9,000 youth living in cities around the world, asking

Global Index. Using primary and secondary data

what is important to youth about their cities. This led

sources, it ranked 25 cities across 80 indicators for a

us to establish 20 Urban Attributes for measurement

total of 2,000 data points. Since then, weve nearly

across all 55 cities.

tripled our research database and more than doubled our

list of cities. The result is that the second Index paints an

2.

even more robust, informed and reliable picture of how

$12, the cost of a movie ticket, tied to minimum wage, equals 1.2.

Wherever possible, data was gathered from the same calendar. Given

years. As a rule we only go back as far as five years.

Raw scores are then translated into a value out of 100 using a
relational scoring system:

Comparing data from different years

of cities: YouthfulCities Index: A massive global

In the youth unemployment indicator, a lower youth unemployment

rate wins.

If minimum wage in a city is $10 and the cost of a movie ticket is

availability, for some indicators we needed to compare data from different

55 cities in our Index across 20 Urban Attributes

the world.

dollars in each city. For example:

For high number indicators the highest number gains 100 points for
that city.

the different intervals of census deliveries and alternate data source

database that measures, compares, and ranks the

each city stacks up against the priorities of youth around

all cost indicators relative to one hour of minimum wage labour in US

Collecting data to measure important Attributes

In the number of entrepreneurship incubators indicator, a higher

number of entrepreneurship incubators wins; versus,

does not exist in the majority of the cities in our Index, we measure
Data for the second annual YouthfulCities Global Index

For each indicator we have decided if a high number or a low

For low number indicators the lowest number gains 100 points for
that city.

Scale and boundary issues

Points are then allocated to other cities based on a

differential equation.

using a total of 101 indicators. The indicators

For a very small number of indicators, city level data was unavailable. In

One of our greatest challenges was developing a

consist of primary and secondary data that Urban

these cases we collected data from province/state or national sources.

research methodology that provides results that are

Decoders our globally dispersed team of young

To normalize the data collected from this larger sample we took the total

comparable across all cities.

urban researchers collect locally and submit using

population of a given city as a percentage of the total population of the

on the importance rankings determined for each urban Attribute.

collaborative, cloud-based research workbooks.

W I T H D ATA O N
1 0 1 I N D I C AT O R S
-

Each citys points are then translated into weighted scores based

broader area, and then multiplied the data collected from the broader

Importance rankings come from the 2014 Urban Attitudes Survey,

area against the percentage that the city represented.

which measured the average importance of the Attributes for youth.

Checking the primary and secondary

When data was not available for youth aged 15 to 29 we used a

YouthfulCities Global Index data

weighting system to allow us to use data from differently defined groups.

The overall index scores result from summing the average of the indicator

For example, if population data was not available for youth aged 15 to

scores across each Urban Attribute. For example, the Transit Attribute is

29 but was available for 15 to 24 years and 25 to 34 years, we used the

made up of 10 indicators. Each city gets a score for each indicator in the

15 to 24 years' data, and half of the total data from 25 to 34 years.

Transit Attribute. The average of these 10 indicator scores makes up the

through a rigorous internal review and check. Every

data point is submitted along with a reliable source. The
internal YouthfulCities team, along with external academic

55 CITIES

100-(net difference to winning number x differential ratio)

IMPORTANT NOTE: The Survey data is not used as Index data. It is only used
to build a more inclusive and credible weighting system for the Index, ie.
Safety is more important to youth than Fashion so the Index scores reflect this
through weighting of scores based on the Survey results.

Once work is collected and submitted, all data goes

T H E D ATA B A S E F O R O U R
S E C O N D I N D E X C O N TA I N S

advisors, goes over the data points and sources, flags

anything that does not hold up to scrutiny, and, if
necessary, uses our source database to replace the data
point. All data checking is done collaboratively and can
be tracked by all team members.

ACROSS 20
U R B A N AT T R I B U T E S ,
T O TA L L I N G 5 , 5 5 5
P O I N T S O F D ATA .

Values listed are out of 10.

Cohort issues

Cities overall scores and rankings

Attribute score. All 20 Attribute scores are summed in order to determine a

Hierarchy of data credibility

citys overall score and rank.

Primary and secondary data was collected from a number of sources.

Inputed data

YouthfulCities collected primary data by talking to key sources in person,

by email, and by telephone. Secondary data collection was done largely

While reliable, robust and defensible data is available for the

through online research. Our sources include census reports, municipal

overwhelming majority of our indicators across all 55 cities, in an extreme

offices and websites, non-governmental organizations, academic sources

minority of cases (<2%) reliable data simply does not exist. Where data

(e.g. journal articles, development indexes and reports) and other online

does not exist we take a regional average in order to assign a score.

sources (e.g. crowdsourcing sites like expatistan.com).

Obtaining reliable and comparable data for the 55 cities is the most
difficult part of the YouthfulCities Global Index process. We want to be as

For a small percentage of indicators (8%) local-level data is not

available. In these cases we use national-level data in order to begin

representative as possible in the data that we employ. If you feel you have

to understand the local realities through a broader, national lens. For

a better way of measuring cities from a youth perspective, we want to

example, in the case of suicides, we use national, age standardized

hear from you!

suicide rates since we think that facilitating a conversation through

the use of national data is better than overlooking the reality
regarding city-level suicide where it's not well reported.
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B E T T E R C I T I E S B U I LT B Y Y O U T H

WE'VE BEEN BUSY THIS YEAR!

Thats the foundation behind YouthfulCities. And we make sure we live up to

this ideal through everything we do, including our research.

In addition to hosting our first-ever Global Summit,

we were also on the road attending conferences, events, and
speaking engagements spreading the YouthfulCities love.

PRINCIPLES

THE YOUTHFULCITIES
GUIDING RESEARCH
PRINCIPLES:

Puts first the needs and desires

of youth in cities.

What we've been up to since last year:

Seeks to reduce subjectivity in

the creation of categories and
indicators as much as possible.
Is relevant to as many youth
as possible. We recognize that
there are vast differences in
education and income among
youth around the world.
Is as accurate as possible,
given the known challenges
of collecting comparable data
within municipalities in a
specific age range.

On April 26 to April 30 we hosted the

first-ever YouthfulCities Summit in Toronto.
We were thrilled to welcome over 100 youth
leaders, innovators, and change-makers
from all five regions of the world to collaborate
and co-create in a 5-day interactive showcase.

Involves youth in ever y step of

the process: from creation, to
data collection, to interpretation
and reporting.

Are you interested in hosting a future

YouthfulCities Summit in your city?
Please email us at
info@youthfulcities.com.

Is global and seeks to reduce

regional biases.

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Livable Cities Symposium

Youth to Business Conference

Open Data Summit

New Cities Summit

Purpose City Summit

Youth Marketing Summit

First Forum on Youth Policy

World Urban Forum

Urban Youth Research

Erikson & Technology

Megacities Summit

Global Indicators Summit

Discover Bahrain

MEET OUR URBAN DECODERS

Urban Decoders are our global team of local researchers. Our amazing team
brings urban insights from 55 cities around the world.

Special Thanks To:

ANISHA JOHAL

AVIGAIL VANTU

DANIELA GUTIERREZ

APHIWE TSHALATA

LILI MAYER

SALLY MOHSEN

VANCOUVER

TEL AVIV

BOGOTA

JOHANNESBURG

BUENOS AIRES

CAIRO

FRANCIS ANYAEGBU

FRANCIS KESSY

IHSANNE LAHLOU

LAGOS

DAR ES SALAAM

CASABLANCA

OYINDAMOLA JOHNSON
DURBAN

NARGES
KHORAMSHAHI
TEHRAN

HOLLY DAGNAN
NEW YORK CITY

THINESH KUMAR

TIN YAN LIU

SINGAPORE

HONG KONG

JANE LUMUMBA

SELIMCAN AZIZOGLU

NAIROBI

ISTANBUL

EUGENE SOSING

JEREMEY TRAN

Saba Wahab

Urban Decoder

Karachi

Gabrielle Penev

Staff

Toronto

Brittany Harris

Intern

Toronto

Hiroshi Iwasaki

Intern

Tokyo

Amanullah Khalid

Intern

Toronto

Paul Purewal

Intern

Toronto

Jenny Kluke

Intern

Toronto

Asami Mori

Intern

Osaka

Nayeong Kim

Intern

Seoul

Laura Obenhaus

Intern

Berlin

Brian Park

Intern

Toronto

Abbby Daranjo

Intern

Toronto

Dominique Wunsche

Intern

Berlin

Chaghaf Howayek

Intern

Toronto/Berlin

Amy Strang

Volunteer

Madison

Volunteer

Chapel Hill

VAIBHAV SINGH

VIOLA BOJANOWICZ

YING YANG

ALICE JUNQUEIRA

NONJABULO ZONDI

DIEGO PADILLA

Meera Chakravarthy

DELHI

WARSAW

BANGKOK

SAO PAULO

JOHANNESBURG

LIMA

Carrey Francis Ronjey

Volunteer

Nairobi

Whitney Miller

Volunteer

Toronto

Ralph Khoury

Researcher

Beirut

Ivan Timofeev

Researcher

Moscow

SAMEER GULATI

Rafia Lawal

Researcher

Accra

LONDON

Roy Joseph Roberto

Researcher

Manila

Janne Verstappen

Researcher

Amsterdam

Sofia Naureen

Researcher

Karachi

Aravind Unni

Researcher

Mumbai

Researcher

Buenos Aires

Researcher

Rio De Janiero

IGNACIO CARTES

MARINO BOTTINI

NADEZHDA ZHEREBINA

FIONA BERREBY

SANTIAGO

ROME

MOSCOW

PARIS

SEDA YILDIZ
ISTANBUL

ELIZABETH
THONGPHANITH
MONTREAL

OSCAR
VARGAS-ACOSTA
BOGOTA

LEEN ROMANEH

CRISTIAN GILS

CAMILLE BONAZZI

CHANDER KOHLI

Josefina Villegas

DUBAI

BOGOTA

PARIS

KARACHI

Leticia Santanna

SABRINA HIEFER

NOUR AOUDE

CINDY GARCIA

NATHALIE WEIRDAK

PATRICIA BYINGTON

OTTAWA

BOGOTA

CARACAS

SAO PAULO

LINA CARDONA

ELORM BILLY-AWITTOR

KOFI YEBOAH

CAROLINA FIGUEIREDO

ANGELA JHANJI

REGINA DE LA PORTILLA

CHRISTOPHER BELL

NEW YORK CITY

ACCRA

ACCRA

BOGOTA

LONDON

MEXICO CITY

CALGARY

HALIFAX

KRIPA RAMAN

H O W Y O U C A N G E T I N V O LV E D
YOUTHFULCITIES IS LEADING
A U N I Q U E U R B A N R E G E N E R AT I O N .
W E WA N T Y O U T O J O I N U S .
YOUTH

M U N I C I PA L I T I E S

Are you 15-29? Connected, engaged, curious,

Are you a civic leader? A policy maker or

and inventive? Do you want to be the driving

municipal strategist? Do you want to drive your

force behind a youth-led regeneration in your

citys competitive edge, stimulate development,

city? Do you want to join our dynamic global

and find new solutions for the most pressing

network of 10,000 peers in 50+ cities around

urban problems? Do you want to build a more

the world?

connected, dynamic, open, fun, curious, and

inventive city?

Join in the conversation, globally or in your

city everyone is welcome! The YouthfulCities

Youth are a citys greatest assets, and also

Index is a tool for you to make informed social

the biggest challenge. We facilitate the

impact in your city based on global empirical

conversation.

research in areas that matter to you.

YouthfulCities provides a platform and method
We invite you to use the data from the Index to

to open this dialogue in a meaningful,

support your passions and ambitions. Lets face

innovative, and mutually beneficial way. We

it, there is power in numbers and statistics, and

are looking to partner with municipalities

we now have lots of them. Find out how your

around the world to develop and share

Are you a business leader in search of great

city is doing from a youth perspective and how

knowledge that is key to building better cities

largest reservoir of urban youth-centric data

insights into the worlds largest and most

it compares globally.

with youth.

to better understand the priorities of this key

dynamic demographic? Do you want to learn

demographic

How to get involved:

BUSINESSES

how your business and brand actually live in

How to get involved:

How to get involved:

the lives of users? Do you want to generate

Promote the Urban Attitudes Survey and

groundbreaking new ideas and inventive

gain access to the results

solutions that help drive your brand and

business forward? Do you want to work with

Fill out and promote the Urban Attitudes

Survey (available in 22 languages)

Request city-specific data

Add your city to the YouthfulCities Index

Become an Urban Decoder

Learn from your global peers,

whats working and whats not

Volunteer with your local

YouthfulCities team

Sponsor a Pop-Up Think Tank for local

recommendations on what can make your
city more youthful

Create customized research on what is

brand and your product

Interested in joining
our global movement?
Send a specialized request to
info@youthfulcities.com.

Get a unique global perspective on what

matters to youth in 55 of the worlds most

a global team of researchers, strategists, and

populated cities

social innovators?

Develop Indicators that capture key insights

into your business and your brand

Take a step beyond Corporate Social

Responsibility and venture into a mutually
beneficial relationship with a globally
expanding and reputable organization.

Engage your employees

Learn key insights into how your company

can retain and engage youth talent and
maximize their full potential

Develop a Youth Engagement Strategy

specific to your city

Hire a customized Urban Decoder Unit

to dig into what youth really think of your

most important to your local realities

Request customized access the worlds

OUR CLIENTS

Sponsor a Category for our YouthfulCities

Index that is vital to your business

Set up a municipal Youth Advisory Board

Host a workshop for municipal employees

engagement, market expansion,

which presents the importance of youth

innovation, cause marketing applications

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Identify key opportunities for youth

A Y O U T H F U L PA R T N E R S H I P
YouthfulCities and the city of Quito join forces
to generate unique urban innovations, from youth outward

Based on the success of the 2014 YouthfulCities Index, the City of Quito,
Ecuador contacted YouthfulCities to build a partnership for 2015. Together
we are working toward an output that will include a deep knowledge based
of youth opinion and globally comparable data for the city and its youth. We
all hope it will unleash prosperous social innovation in Quito and become an
example for other cities to follow.
YouthfulCities has developed the following components of work with Quito that
are being deployed over the course of 2015:

The Urban Attitudes Survey - more than 1000 youth have already been
survey in Quito about what is important to them in their city and how
they feel Quito is performing in the same areas. Many more youth will be

H I G H I M PA C T P R O J E C T S T O G E N E R A T E D E V E L O P M E N T
I N Q U I T O R E Q U I R E S A B E T T E R U N D E R S TA N D I N G O F

surveyed in the coming months.

"DESIGNING EFFECTIVE PUBLIC POLICY AND IMPLEMENTING

The YouthfulCities Index - The municipality worked with YouthfulCities and

O U R C I T I Z E N ' S N E E D S A N D O F O U R C U R R E N T R E A L I T Y.

our local Urban Decoder to collect all the data required for entry into the

Y O U T H F U L C I T I E S ' V I S I O N A N D W O R K P R O V I D E S VA L U A B L E

2015 YouthfulCities Index.

D A T A A N A LY S I S A B O U T O U R C I T I E S . T H E Y H AV E B E C O M E

The Young Innovator Network - Stimulated by the knowledge developed

S T R AT E G I C A L L I E S O F T H E Y O U T H , O R G A N I Z AT I O N S A N D

in the first two phases, a diverse group of young innovators from multiple
sectors will be brought together to create new ideas and initiatives to

M U N I C I PA L I T I E S T O G E N E R A T E S O C I A L I N N O VA T I O N
AROUND THE WORLD."

S E C R E TA R Y G E N E R A L

make Quito an even more youthful city.

PLANNING AND OPEN GOVERNMENT

We are excited by the opportunity to work with Quito. Given its high ranking
on civic engagement in the 2015 YouthfulCities Index, we hope to continue that
success in other areas.

" Y O U T H I S E S S E N T I A L I N P R O V I D I N G I N N O VAT I V E , N O V E L A N D
C R E AT I V E I D E A S T O S O LV E T H E C U R R E N T P R O B L E M S O F Q U I T O .
T H E TA L E N T T H AT Y O U T H E N C O M PA S S , W I T H T H E I R C O N S TA N T
A N D A C T I V E PA R T I C I PAT I O N , W I L L H E L P U S B U I L D A C I T Y O F
I N V O LV E D C I T I Z E N S T H AT D E V E L O P A LT E R N AT I V E S T O I M P R O V E
OUR OVERALL QUALITY OF LIFE. OUR CITY IS A PLACE FOR
E V E RY O N E W I T H O U T P R E J U D I C E , A N D A S S U C H , E V E RY O N E I S
- MAURICIO RODAS ESPINEL,
MAYOR OF QUITO

O B L I G E D T O G E N E R AT E A S U S TA I N E D C O M M I T M E N T;
A COMMITMENT FOR QUITO"

22

- CAROLINA POZO,

23

THE YOUTHFULCITIES ENGINE

YouthfulCities is leading a unique urban regeneration. We are building a global network of
15-29 year olds who dive deep into youth-driven urban knowledge to create far-reaching
inventive solutions from youth outward. And, we are illuminating youthful stories around the
world. This leads to the 100 biggest cities and their almost one billion inhabitants becoming
more connected, dynamic, open, fun, curious and inventive. In other words, more youthful
cities. Its a bold direction for a social enterprise thats only two years old. But were not shy
about it. These are the key components that keep our engine moving.
Grow
We continually grow our
network, expanding our
reach around the world.

YOUTHFULCITIES

Connect
We build and connect our
Urban Decoder Network
of youth in cities globally.

YouthfulCities is leading a unique urban regeneration.

Survey
We conduct the
Urban Attitudes Survey
our annual look at what
matters to youth in cities
around the world.

Gather
We bring together youth
from cities around the
world at our annual
Global Summit.

RANK
We build our annual YouthfulCities Index
that measures which cities are best
for youth to live work and play in
and celebrate results.

We are building a global network of 15 - to 29-year-olds who dive

deep into youth-driven urban knowledge to create far-reaching inventive
solutions from youth outward. And, we are illuminating youthful stories
around the world. This leads to the 100 biggest cities and their almost
one billion inhabitants becoming more connected, dynamic, open, fun,
curious, and inventive In other words, more youthful cities.
Its a bold direction for a social enterprise thats only two years old.
But were not shy about it.
Want to be part of our global movement?

Engage
We work with public and private
sector client clients globally, leveraging
our network and insights to build more
youthful cities and brands.

Interested in discussing customized insights from the Index?

Activate
We activate young
social innovators
to create sustainable
city solutions.

Get in touch!
info@youthfulcities.com

Share
We spark interesting debate by
sharing stories, knowledge and
insights that contribute to the
global dialogue.

Grow
We continually grow our
network, expanding our
reach around the world.

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