Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha are the region's most sustainable cities, says new index

Dubai sits in first place among the Middle East, followed by Abu Dhabi and Doha

Jeddah and Riyadh lead the way on environmental sustainability in the region

Doha performs stronger on Profit factors than People and Planet

Middle East, 10 February 2015: Dubai is the most sustainable city in the region, followed by Abu Dhabi and Doha, respectively, according to the inaugural Sustainable Cities Index from ARCADIS, the leading global natural and build asset design and consultancy firm.

The Index, which was conducted by the Center for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) explores the three demands of social (People), environmental (Planet) and economic (Profit) to develop an indicative ranking of 50 of the world's leading cities. The 2015 report finds that no utopian city exists, with city leaders having to manage a complex balancing act between the three pillars of sustainability.

Across the world, cities are performing better for being sustainable for Profit and Planet purposes than they are for People factors. Many of the world's economic powerhouses are becoming less affordable for their citizens, with the cost of property in New York, London, Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong penalizing their rankings. There is also a trade-off globally between strong education and poor work-life balance, particular demonstrated in Hong Kong.

"The trade-off between Planet and Profit is most starkly seen in the Middle East where Dubai and Doha score much lower on environmental factors than economic ones," said Terry Tommason, Doha City Executive of Big Urban Clients at ARCADIS. "Cities in the Middle East have seen the highest real term population growth over the past five years, with Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi experiencing a rise of over 30 percent, putting a strain on city infrastructure."

Overall the top ten and bottom ten cities in the 2015 ARCADIS Sustainable Cities Index are (the full rankings can be viewed at www.sustainablecitiesindex.com):



Dubai leads in the Middle East at 33^rd, followed by Abu Dhabi at 34^th, Doha at 41^st, Jeddah at 43^rd and Riyadh at 44^th. Dubai also takes first place in the region on the Profit sub-index at 27^th, followed by Doha at 30^th.

Abu Dhabi tops the Middle East People sub-index at 25^th due to success in dependency ratio and income inequality. Meanwhile two cities in Saudi Arabia - Jeddah at 39^th and Riyadh at 40^th - lead the region's way on Planet factors, scoring particularly well for drinking water and sanitation and low levels of air pollution.

"City Leaders need to find ways to balance the demands of generating strong financial returns, being an attractive place for people to live and work in, whilst also limiting damage to our environment," said Hisham Malaika, Jeddah City Executive at ARCADIS. "To truly understand how sustainable a city is, we must understand how it ranks in People, Planet and Profit. Then we can act to assess priorities and the pathway to urban sustainability - for the good of all."

-Ends-

For further information please contact:
Julie Nguyen
PR and Communications - Middle East
ARCADIS EC Harris
Julie.nguyen@echarris.com
+971 (0)56 188 2465

The research was conducted by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (www.cebr.com) and examines 50 cities from 31 countries ranking them across a range of indicators to estimate the sustainability of each city. The cities included within this report were selected to provide an overview of the planet's cities, providing not only wide-ranging geographical coverage, but also a variety of levels of economic development, expectations of future growth and an assortment of sustainability challenges.

A detailed, evidence-based metric is derived to quantify each city's performance. The headline ranking can then be divided into three broad subcategories: People, Planet and Profit. These correspond to three dimensions of sustainability - social, environmental and economic and can be described as the triple bottom line.

About ARCADIS
ARCADIS is the leading global natural and built asset design and consultancy firm working in partnership with our clients to deliver exceptional and sustainable outcomes through the application of design, consultancy, engineering, project and management services.  ARCADIS differentiates through its talented and passionate people and its unique combination of capabilities covering the whole asset life cycle, its deep market sector insights and its ability to integrate health & safety and sustainability into the design and delivery of solutions across the globe.  We are 28,000 people that generate 3 billion in revenues. We support UN-Habitat with knowledge and expertise to improve the quality of life in rapidly growing cities around the world. www.arcadis.com

Rankings

The overall 2015 Sustainable Cities Index rankings are as below, with the full rankings available at: www.sustainablecitiesindex.com

Overall ARCADIS Sustainable Cities Index ranking

1. Frankfurt
2. London
3. Copenhagen
4. Amsterdam
5. Rotterdam
6. Berlin
7. Seoul
8. Hong Kong
9. Madrid
10. Singapore
11. Sydney
12. Toronto
13. Brussels
14. Manchester
15. Boston
16. Paris
17. Melbourne
18. Birmingham
19. Chicago
20. New York
21. Houston
22. Philadelphia
23. Tokyo
24. Rome
25. Washington
26. Kuala Lumpur
27. San Francisco
28. Los Angeles
29. Dallas
30. Santiago
31. Sao Paulo
32. Mexico City
33. Dubai
34. Abu Dhabi
35. Shanghai
36. Istanbul
37. Johannesburg
38. Buenos Aires
39. Beijing
40. Rio de Janeiro
41. Doha
42. Moscow
43. Jeddah
44. Riyadh
45. Jakarta
46. Manila
47. Mumbai
48. Wuhan
49. New Delhi
50. Nairobi

Press Release 2015