There are many great places throughout the country and the world which are perfect for young business people to start their new careers. Recently, Dallas was rated one of the world’s best cities for young people to move and begin looking for employment. This rating was compiled through a Toronto-based group of “think-tank” members which ranked Dallas, Texas as the fourth most attractive city for young people on a list of the top 25 cities around the world. While Dallas ranked less than desirable behind Toronto, New York and Berlin, it stayed ahead of places such as London, Los Angeles, Chicago and even Paris.
According to the group in the think-tank, this was a very surprising finding. Most people think of places like Los Angeles and New York as places for young people to begin their careers because they are the places that have all of the shine and glory. Things are beginning to change, however. These findings were presented during an open session in Dallas. The session is called Purpose City. It’s a one-day workshop which talks about urban issues and was followed by the meeting of New Cities Summit members the same week and was held in the Arts District of Dallas.
The index was compiled by YouthfulCities by creating a selection of cities from all of the five major continents. The index used all available statistics in order to judge how each of these cities fared in different categories. The group then judged the most appealing cities for people between the ages of 15 and 29 who were categorized as young business people. Dallas did very well in the areas of music, sports, restaurants, movies and even nightlife. It also did poorly in some areas such as in environmental sustainability and civic participation. Another area to consider when choosing a good city for young business people is what their loan options are. Title loans in Dallas are great for when young business people need to come up with collateral for opportunities which may arise.
The ranking that Dallas received is a little less surprising because of the competition it was stacked against. Because of the index choosing different cities that represent different continents, it necessarily decided to include certain cities such as Lima, Lagos and Johannesburg. All of these areas have high poverty rates. Because of this, it wasn’t surprising that they didn’t do well in categories such as lifestyle, nightlife and restaurants. This wasn’t for each of them, however. Johannesburg did fare well in certain categories such as a second place in the category of fashion and art. This was just behind Paris in the first spot.
The co-founder of YouthfulCities had stated that comparing such dissimilar cities had required making certain judgement calls when selecting statistics to be used in the comparisons. Dallas ended up being chosen because it was a top city and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States. However, much of the statistics reflected the conditions inside of Dallas City limits as opposed to the conditions within the entire region. In many cases, areas concerning air transportation receive statistics gathered from areas between Dallas and other counties nearby.
The way in which all of the statistics were gathered began to draw criticism with the results. An urban planner named Patrick Kennedy was very skeptical because he questioned that some of the statistics, such as the area of job growth, would reflect the entire metropolitan area instead of just the city alone. Kennedy is best known for his advocating of the demolition of the elevated highway that is east of downtown Dallas.