Fast Comments on Fast Company's Fast Cities, Part 1

Fast Company has rated fast cities, too fast cities and cities that are slow. I always find lists fascinating and appears others do too, since we seem to see them virtually everywhere.

You can find the complete list of fast cities here. I'm going to comment on a few that I found interesting.

In the "Creative Class Meccas", New York, NY and San Francisco, CA turned up in this list of five. This isn't a surprise, but certainly seems predictable. It would seem a little creative to me if they chose some where, any where else, for such distinctions.

In the "Global Villages" section there was no US representative. The US has a reputation of being "ethnocentrist" and the "Ugly Americans." You couldn't expect to find the US there. Although I would think New York, San Francisco, or even my Houston, Texas would be excellent candidates for such.

In the "R & D Clusters" section the US had two of the three destinations (Ft. Collins, CO and Raleigh-Durham, NC). Seoul, South Korea showed up to represent the rest of the world. I'm sure many will point to this as an example of the US being "Ugly Americans."

In the "Green Leaders" department we find Chicago, Illinois and Portland, Oregon making up two of the four cited. Chicago, Illinois? I realized it has made some serious advances, but should a city get such high recognition for simply playing catch up? It is easy to look like you made major progress when you start at zero.

"High Tech Hot Spots" has Boise, Idaho in with Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and Chandigarh, India. This seemed a little weird. I read many high tech magazines and these names simply don't come up that often. It was almost like they said, "let's see if they notice." Very strange indeed.

In other posts I'm going to review the magazine's "Urban Innovators," "Culture Centers," "Unexpected Oases," and "Startup Hubs." Finally, I'm going to review the cities cited as "Too Fast" and "Slow." I would love to hear your thoughts on these cities.

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