Destiny: The High Achievement of Being Our Best Together
Cities and communities have higher order characteristics that go beyond the individual elements or characteristics that make them up. A city is not a person and so doesn’t have a personality but we may readily recognize that some intangible features of cities and communities do exist, they feel different from each other, have a different sense about them, introduce unique possibilities.
Ratified in 1996, the Congress for the New Urbanism’s Charter (https://www.cnu.org/who-we-are/charter-new-urbanism) contains 27 paragraphs or sections that link key dynamics of effective cities from the building level to the metropolis. This Charter arises from, and is motivated by, a larger vision of what being great together could look like for the citizens of a city. Builders, planners, architects, engineers, business people, and citizens of all ages participate in and benefit from such vision.
This aspiration isn’t about size or global profile or fame. Neighbourhoods and districts, corridors and streets, blocks and buildings, all interact to make a city viable for those who live there. A small city in a lesser known part of the world can reflect significant distinctions of function and achievement. CitiIQ calls this higher attainment, Destiny.
In the CitiIQ scoring approach, Destiny encompasses the perception of the city or community on a broader scale and engages with the cumulative results of the lower tiered analyses. The CitiIQ pyramid reflecting a hierarchy of needs, culminates in the Destiny dimension and is an analyses of our most intangible characteristics – the perceived culture and community established through the daily mechanics of city life and which distinguish cities from each other.
Certain features of cities reflect notable accomplishments of function and purpose that exemplify excellence, a recognition of significant contributions or breakthroughs. Stockholm has pushed the boundaries of water management; Singapore has deeply developed every resource in a small area to become a global influence.
Destiny represents the broader picture of the city ascertained and analyzed as an entity. Each of the four aspects of Destiny form a broad interpretation of the city along unique axes. These values go beyond specific fields of study, or economic, environmental, cultural, or social elements. This holistic view of the city provides a broad picture of perception, rather than the many details that make that picture up.
These Considerations and their respective indicators are necessary requirements for a city to excel on the top level of the Hierarchy. Defined as “something planned in advance; often a great or noble cause”, Destiny captures the aspiration of a city to reach its full potential in every area of life.
Collaboration and Unity
The Consideration of Collaboration + Unity identifies the ability of a city to meet the needs of its citizens regarding the cooperation between businesses, organizations, and individuals, both publicly and privately. Collaboration across industries, between corporations and within businesses is a necessary condition for the acceleration and eventual achievement of global prosperity, outlined, for example, in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 17.
Partnerships and the subsequent pooling of resources empowers people, cities, and countries to produce modern, future-proof infrastructure that is capable of empowering communities to reach the highest levels of city progression. The interconnection of a city is essentially a manifestation of societal unity and cohesion between the diverse, ranging cultures that constitute an urban population.
Although a challenging multifaceted issue in the current global socio-political climate, it is the mandate of every city government to foster collaboration throughout both the business and private sectors, as a way of not only realizing economic prosperity but genuine social and political wellbeing as well. Partnerships and cooperation allow for exponential increases in business efficiency due to better application of skillsets and the avoidance of underlying corruption from either the corporate or political domain. Furthermore, it encourages not only municipal cohesion, but national and global cohesion as well.
Signature and Identity
This Consideration of Signature + Identity identifies the ability of a city to meet the needs of its citizens regarding the formation of distinct culturally, environmentally, and geographically identifiable characteristics that consolidate to form a strong cohesive societal bond. This feeling of individuality and uniqueness within a city has the capability to foster growth amongst Considerations within the lower levels of the Hierarchy, providing employment to low-skilled members of the population, enhancing municipal economic productivity and establishing an international reputation as a world-leader in the likes of tourism, architecture and historic conservation.
Cities with a universally recognized Signature and Identity are often celebrated for their ancient monuments, structures, and sites of historic events. However, emergent countries and cities that lack significant historical assets have created and shaped their identities through focusing on their appealing ecological morphology and/or post-modern urban infrastructure.
Commonly perceived to be intangible and immeasurable by nature, the state of a city’s Signature + Identity can be comprehended through a series of measures such as tourism visitation, facilitation of cultural and sporting events and conservation initiatives. Furthermore, this Consideration is the culmination of other Considerations within the lower Dimensions of the Hierarchy as it evaluates the social harmony and cohesion as a result of the presence, or in some cases the absence, of a tangible unifying city identity.
Excellence
The Consideration of Excellence identifies the ability of a city to meet the needs of its citizens in its production of world class facilities, policies and products and its proficiency for establishing an international reputation as an innovative and exemplary city, and exhibiting this to the world. Contemporary, spearheading cities are the primary drivers of social progression, economic diversification, and political equality across the globe.
Likewise, the world’s top resilient, cutting-edge cities serve as a blueprint for the remaining cities that have yet to find the capacity or perhaps the compulsion to strive for developing sectors that are distinct and superior to others. Municipal excellence stimulates thinking outside the box from all sectors and urges stable, balanced growth patterns that follow in line with the likes of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals 9 and 16.
Excellence is a Consideration in the top Dimension of the Hierarchy of City Needs and it plays a primary role in amalgamating the Considerations within lower Dimensions into a coherent, representative assessment of a city’s distinctive assets, both measurable and immeasurable.
Hope
Within the CitiIQ framework, Hope represents a city’s sense of positivity, optimism, and confidence. It is difficult to measure but captures an essential element of the Destiny Dimension. The CitiIQ Diagnostic Tool explores the idea of Hope conceptually by holistically examining the effects and implications of the general indicators of social, economic, and political hope. Stability and happiness is a fundamental requirement for city cohesion and prosperity. A population with a united, positive vision for the future of their homeland is far more likely to invest in infrastructure, public health projects, technological modernization, and innovation, as well as take an active role in voting.
Additionally, there are widespread economic advantages of possessing social confidence and foresight. These include increased efficiency, trade, commitment to emergency preparedness and resilience, and prudent saving and spending. The enrichment of hope amongst metropolitan-based populations is a central element of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6, as it has significant benefits for urban welfare, global peace and stability. Hope is the conclusive metric for a wide range of city fundamentals.
Intangibles may be among the most critical city measures when it comes to our well-being. Despite the challenges of measuring and understanding these dynamics, it is clear that our sense of purpose and meaning, experienced collectively, is essential to urban thriving.
For more information, Contact:
Milton Friesen, General Manager