Am just back from the Global City Forum in Abu Dhabi. An unforgettable few days, for lots of reasons - not least the venue. I thought Malmaisons were posh, but the 7-star Emirates Palace Hotel was definitely more palace than hotel - so massive, I nearly got lost in my own room. Here’s just one of the outside pools...I’ve already told you about Richard Florida. He was a hard act to follow, but several UK speakers did their best - Jenny Dawe (Leader, Edinburgh City Council), Clive Dutton (Director of Planning & Regeneration, Birmingham City Council) and Marie-Therese McGivern (Director of Development, Belfast City Council). It was quite odd seeing them speak in such palatial surroundings, rather than at the NEC or suchlike...Jenny impressed the audience with her upbeat account of Edinburgh - the UK’s biggest financial centre, after London. Despite the recession, Jenny said investors were “still bullish”. Later that day, though, Royal Bank of Scotland announced 9,000 job losses - half of them in the UK.Clive did a good job promoting Birmingham - one of the UK’s youngest cities (37% of the population is under 25) and due to become the UK’s first majority-minority city within the next 10 years. Clive also plugged the Big City Plan - Birmingham city centre’s masterplan, launched in Feb 08.  Marie Therese also promoted the youth of her city - 22% of Belfast’s population is under 16. She was quite honest in describing Belfast as a “city of contrasts” - with surprising growth sectors like tourism (18k jobs), but a “bloated” public sector (33% of total jobs). Belfast’s skills profile is also one of extremes, with 25% holding a degree-level qualification and 27% with no formal qualification at all.There was then a great session on “city branding”, led by Thomas Sevcik (Arthesia) - who challenged the whole notion of city PR. Most “distinctive” features of cities aren’t that distinctive at all, he said. All big cities are “diverse” these days, they all have a “vibrant culture” and “rich history”, and they all claim to be a “leader in sustainability”. These taglines aren’t unique, but they end up being used all the time. Most city branding looks the same, according to Sevcik - which is very true in the case of Belfast, Barrow and Blackburn - all of which have a rather similar-looking heart-shaped “B” in their logo.Carol Coletta (CEOs for Cities) - who’s a double for Annie Lennox - agreed that most city branding campaigns do not work. City leaders spend far too much time focusing on superficial logos and taglines, and usually come up with excessively aspirational plans that are just not credible - things like “most liveable city by 2020”. Unlike products, cities “talk back” - in other words, city residents have views on their own branding campaigns, and will trash them if they’re not realistic.All of which is very relevant for UK cities. One of the trickiest challenges facing our city leaders in this recession is how to tell their city’s story in a realistic way. As we said in Cities Outlook 2009, UK cities are not all “well-placed to weather the storm”. And as Sevcik and Coletta say, they can’t all end up being the most liveable, sustainable, knowledge-intensive city either. Edinburgh, Birmingham, Belfast and other cities need to sell their own unique story - rather than engage in slightly meaningless marketing jargon. 
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