Brooklyn takes the front seat as the hottest US city of the future
A view of the Brooklyn Bridge.NEW YORK, July 7 — For the first time ever, the New York Borough of Brooklyn takes the front seat and appears at the top of the Hottest American Cities of the Future List, published by Business Insider, a business-entertainment news website, this week. The New York borough is followed by previous favourites such as the cities of Seattle, Austin and Portland.
To compile the list, the publication looked at job growth, population growth and demographics, affordability, liveability and the health and well being of the residents. Other factors such as technology, sustainability and culture were taken into consideration. One of the main factors was how “cool” the city is. Coolness, according to the publication, is an important criterion. To measure this, the publication looked into the capacity of the cities to attract diversity and talent as well as the capacity to create trends and influence other places.
In past years Brooklyn has attracted young chefs, artists, entrepreneurs and families as well as art galleries and boutiques and hipster markets like the Brooklyn Flea and Dekalb Market have been cited as must-see spots in New York. Brooklyn now is home to restaurants of some of the country’s most buzzed about chefs like Allswell from Nate Smith of Spotted Pig fame and Talde by Dale Talde from reality show “Top Chef”. On the cultural scene, Brooklyn offers venues such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and the Brooklyn Museum displaying international-level exhibitions such as the work of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami.
The borough’s widening appeal really took off with the arrival of Michael Bloomberg as mayor of New York in 2001. Bloomberg has played a massive role in the transformation of the city in recent years by supporting developing projects in the area. Most recently, Bloomberg opened a 6,000 square metre glass energy-saving building in the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, and announced the creation of a second New York University campus in downtown Brooklyn.
A-list stars are now fighting their way to the borough, with “Sex and the City” actress and long-time Manhattan resident Sarah Jessica Parker seeking to buy with husband Matthew Broderick in the area of Brooklyn Heights. Others, such as writer and performer Bjork, have gone for similar residential areas such as Cobble Hill, and Oscar-nominated star Anne Hathaway is now living in a more industrialised area, Dumbo. Aside from the A-list crowd, other areas of Brooklyn house hipster communities of young talented artists and musicians such as Williamsburg, birthplace of popular bands such as Fischerspooner and Scissor Sisters.
Here are the other cities which made it into the Hottest American Cities of the Future List:Seattle, WA
Austin, TX
Portland, OR
Boulder, CO
Raleigh, NC
Detroit, MI
Philadelphia, PA
Nashville, TN
Bentonville, AR
Burlington, VT
Mountain View, CA
Pittsburgh, PA
Salt Lake City, UT
Williston, ND — AFP/Relaxnews
