In its first ever ranking of America’s Cities of the Future 2011/2012, fDi Magazine ranked Mobile in the No. 10 spot among small cities defined as those with a population of 100,000 to 250,000. Published by the Financial Times, fDi has a circulation of 15,000 corporate readers.
The research published in the magazine’s April issue weighed 60 criteria from economic potential to business friendliness, and highlights the economic, business and financial strengths of 400 cities in North and South America.
In the FDI Strategy rankings, the judges considered the number of staff dedicated to promoting and facilitating inward investment and systems/programs in place to train staff and measure performance, both individually and organization-wide; key initiatives implemented to attract more investment; information on high-growth sectors/sub-sectors which offer potential for inward investment; description of incentives available to inward investors; major infrastructure and urban planning projects; and the vision for achieving the location’s full FDI potential and why it is a location of the future.
Richmond was the top-ranked small city of the future, followed by Santa Clarita; Columbia, S.C.; Richmond Hill, Ontario; Huntsville. Ala.; Ontario, Calif.; Norfolk; Jersey City, N.J.; Dayton; and Mobile.