Society with Future: Smart and Liveable Cities. First EAI International Conference, SC4Life 2019, Braga, Portugal, December 4-6, 2019, Proceedings

Research Article

City Rankings and the Citizens: Exposing Representational and Participatory Gaps

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  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.1007/978-3-030-45293-3_12,
        author={Ana Duarte Melo},
        title={City Rankings and the Citizens: Exposing Representational and Participatory Gaps},
        proceedings={Society with Future: Smart and Liveable Cities. First EAI International Conference, SC4Life 2019, Braga, Portugal, December 4-6, 2019, Proceedings},
        proceedings_a={SC4LIFE},
        year={2020},
        month={6},
        keywords={City rankings Communication Citizenship Participation},
        doi={10.1007/978-3-030-45293-3_12}
    }
    
  • Ana Duarte Melo
    Year: 2020
    City Rankings and the Citizens: Exposing Representational and Participatory Gaps
    SC4LIFE
    Springer
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-45293-3_12
Ana Duarte Melo1,*
  • 1: University of Minho
*Contact email: anamelo@ics.uminho.pt

Abstract

A critical reflection on the purposes, role and performance of city rankings through an holistic communicational approach is at the core of this article. Grounded on a conceptual framework that highlights the contemporary idea of the city—beyond the smart city and more as a co-intelligent, collaborative and co-creative entity, and on the performance outputs of city rankings as territorial and strategic communication tools that actually represent the state of cities, we address the citizens’ presence or contribute—as main city stakeholders—to city rankings. In order to make research tangible with a practical component, an exploratory comparative content analysis of three recognized city rankings: the CBI – City Brands Index 2017, the GCR – 2018 Global Cities Report, and the Global Liveability Index 2018—was carried out.