City Rankings: Benchmarking Beyond the Headlines

Although there is significant and increasing interest in comparative city benchmarks (such as rankings and indexes) from media outlets and cities themselves, there has been very limited research on the nature of these studies and their potential utility for urban policymaking. To begin to address this knowledge gap, The Melbourne Centre for Cities at the University of Melbourne designed a scoping study consisting of:

1. A review of scientific literature
2. Analysis of a database of 500 current urban benchmarks conducted by The Business of Cities
3. A small pilot study to understand the way benchmarks shape the ‘comparative thinking’ of professionals in global cities.

This report presents findings from these activities.