City attractiveness as a new measure of urban success

There’s an argument that, in the last two decades, urban success has been framed as a technological challenge, one that could be solved through infrastructure, data and software. However, as the fourth industrial revolution matures, and as work, capital and people become increasingly mobile, a different question has come to the fore; not how smart a city is, but how attractive it is.

The 2025 edition of the Worldwide Observatory for Attractive Cities, authored by Professor José Antonio Ondiviela, reflects this changing mindset. Rather than treating technology as the end goal, the Observatory places people – specifically talent – at the centre of urban competitiveness. In Ondiviela’s words, “cities today are no longer just places to live. They are products competing globally for talented people”.

In an era where remote and hybrid work are normalised, where skilled professionals can choose between continents, and where demographic pressures are reshaping labour markets, the ability to attract and retain talent has become a defining metric of city success. The Observatory argues that urban prosperity is now driven less by geography and more by human choice.

From smart cities to attractive cities

Ondiviela’s work starts from a simple observation – that economic value today is generated by innovation density rather than physical proximity to resources. “Cities are still the engines of growth,” he explains, “but the logic has changed. Wealth comes from ideas, creativity, and human interaction”.

This reframes the purpose of technology in cities. Rather than being a goal in itself, technology becomes an enabler of human development. The Observatory builds on the “three Ts” of urban prosperity – technology, talent and tolerance – but updates them for a more fluid, global context.

“Cities change over time. History is built and destroyed in cities. So magnetism is not static”

Technology, in this model, is valuable only insofar as it improves how people live, work and participate in the city. Talent is seen as a self-reinforcing loop – talented people are attracted to places where other talented people already are. Tolerance underpins everything, shaping whether a city feels open, safe and welcoming to global citizens while maintaining its local identity.

What makes the Observatory distinctive, though, is how it translates these principles into a practical framework for understanding city choice.

City choice as a human decision

At the heart of the 2025 edition is a psychological insight – choosing a city is a deeply human decision, shaped by both emotion and rational calculation. Ondiviela describes it as being “very similar to choosing a partner or making a major life investment”.

“If you are young, skilled and globally mobile, you have real choice,” he says. “There are around 1.7 billion millennials in this situation. They can choose the city where they want to develop their potential”.

That choice unfolds in two stages. First comes the emotional response, driven by perception, image and feeling. Only after that does the rational evaluation begin. This duality is captured in the Observatory’s core equation:

City attractiveness = city magnetism × city profitability

The model recognises that cities can be efficient but unloved, or beautiful but unaffordable. True attractiveness emerges only when both dimensions reinforce one another.

City magnetism – the emotional pull

City magnetism represents the emotional filter through which people initially assess cities. “This is the left brain,” Ondiviela explains. “It’s about whether you like a city, whether it feels exciting or inspiring, whether you’ve visited it, seen it in films, heard about it from friends, or associate it with culture or events”.

This is why cities invest so heavily in global visibility, from major sporting events to cultural branding. Magnetism is difficult to measure precisely because it is emotional, subjective and often unconscious. To address this, the Observatory introduces the idea of a city timeline.

“Cities change over time,” Ondiviela says. “History is built and destroyed in cities. So magnetism is not static”.

The framework breaks magnetism into three chronological components – past, present, and future.

“People don’t just choose a city for what it is now. They choose it for what it promises to become”

The past is identity. It includes history, heritage, culture, gastronomy, climate, geography, and global narratives – films, music, literature, social media and blogging. All of these elements shape the mental image people hold of a city, often long before they visit.

The present reflects how the city feels today. This includes competitiveness, creativity, ethics, equality, social cohesion and everyday quality of life. It is about what motivates people when they wake up each morning and engage with the city.

The future is strategy. This captures whether a city projects confidence about where it is going – its investment in innovation, technology, smart city programmes, education and human capital. “People don’t just choose a city for what it is now,” Ondiviela notes. “They choose it for what it promises to become”.

Together, these three layers create the emotional image that determines which cities people are willing to consider seriously.

City profitability – the rational contract

Once a city passes the emotional test, the decision becomes rational. “This is the right brain,” Ondiviela says. “The question becomes very simple – what does this city give me, and what do I have to pay to live here?”

The Observatory refers to this as city profitability, framed as an implicit citizenship contract between the individual and the city. The city provides services, opportunity and infrastructure. In return, the citizen pays through taxes, cost of living and opportunity cost.

On the performance side, city services are grouped into 10 areas that are both intuitive and data-rich – including mobility, safety, healthcare, education, connectivity, employability, culture and environmental conditions. These services define the lived experience of the city.