So, where’s the best place in the region to hang your hat this year? For the fourth year in a row, our sister publication, Saneou Al- Hadath magazine, has released its exclusive rankings on Arab cities, and TRENDS is the only place you can get these rankings in English. Our team spent weeks studying indexes produced by international statistics boards and top-notch research institutions in order to create the rankings. Our aim was to identify which cities in the Arab world are best to call home.

In the rankings business and economic conditions take highest priority, particularly this year, in light of the world economic crisis and its far-reaching implications. Every year competition for the top position is fierce, and as much as we appreciate the efforts of active cities, we deplore the high level of inaction of others, who seem to stand still.

One important conclusion we’ve reached – and we’ve reached many of them – is that the availability of development funds is not the only factor for development, as many like to believe. Equally important are organization, sense of responsibilities, and the rule of law.

The Emirati cities of Abu Dhabi and Dubai have alternated in the first two positions for four years. Dubai ranked first in 2007, while Abu Dhabi grabbed top spot for the next three years, leaving Dubai in second position. The differences between the two are not great; Abu Dhabi out-ranked Dubai last year in health services while both obtained the same score in that sector this year. While Dubai outranked Abu Dhabi in the sectors of entertainment, telecommunications, and security, Abu Dhabi outranked Dubai in business, considered the key sector. This puts Abu Dhabi first yet again in 2010.

For the purposes of this ranking system, we collected and analyzed indexes in six sectors: economy & business, health, culture & entertainment, telecommunications, security & human rights, and education. We then ordered leading cities in each of these sectors. Our exclusive study also includes two other classifications: one for Top Arab Cities in the Levant and one for Top Arab Cities in North Africa.

While the purpose of this annual study is not to provide cities with bragging rights, we do believe that it is right for cities which rank first to enjoy the spotlight. The spirit of competition should be nurtured at the city level and among its people; it incites them to look after their cities and to succeed in their development programs, whether civil or governmental.

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