Cities Talent Attraction in Turbulent Times
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This article was first published by Tomorrow.City. Find it here.
Release of 6th Edition: WW Observatory for Attractive Cities for Talent.
Case Study of Dubai: Security & Quality of Life vs Global Uncertainty
Author | Prof. José A. Ondiviela PhD
Modern cities face the challenge of being attractive enough to retain and attract talent and investment. This appeal is driven by two forces: emotional (City Magnetism) and rational (City Profitability). Magnetism reflects how inspiring and enriching a city feels, while Profitability relates to services, affordability, and lifestyle fit. Though rational factors matter, emotional connection often plays a bigger role—because people are emotional beings.
City Attractiveness is influenced by several key trends that affect the Quality of Life in urban areas. These trends are shaped by factors such as economic conditions, environmental sustainability, safety, healthcare, education, infrastructure, and more. To study all those components, let’s split the approach into three areas, matching our Quality of Live (Attractiveness) model concepts with the current trends of Lovability, Liveability and Affordability:
With this approach, we have studied the top 175 most attractive cities for talent in our 6th Edition WW Observatory for Attractive Cities. We use around 120 KPIs that provide us with good proxies for the different components in Magnetism and Profitability.
You can download full report from here. If you want to test the model and find the top 15 cities that best fit your preferences (Emotional-Magnetism and Rational-Performance/Profitability), then you can enter your scores and use this WebApp.
There is strong competition for top positions between USA and Western Europe. USA led 2021 due to a fast post-pandemic recovery, but 2022 inflation pushed it down and prices are not recovering once inflation is under control. This, combined with social inequality worsening and current de-prioritization on Environmental has allowed Western Europe to reinforce in 2023 a leader position won in 2022, and maintain it in 2024.
Analyzing 2025 report (2024 data), we find:
Main reasons are: Increase on Dynamism due to Quality of Life and Expat Experience, on Strategy due to SmartCity Plan, and on Profitability due to better NetPurchase Power.
We can highlight the gaining positions from UAE (Dubai repeating 1st and Abu Dhabi climbing to 4th), 4 Asian Tigers (starting at position 30), JPN recovering from stalled past years, now with Tokyo at 17th and Osaka at 25th due to the Universal Exhibition. UK (from 21) and SWI (from 6) are also recovering from poor last years. Long-term growth is shown from UAE (from 1), JPN (from 17), SPA (from 12) and 4 Asian tigers (from 30). CHN is growing slightly every year (now from 115)
Reduction or stalling on investments (mainly those from Environmental) has impacted on the quality of services (performance). USA (from 54), with most US cities from 69 to 84). Gap with Latam and all Asia increased a little due to economy impact (except CHN). After most Western Cities, we can see Middle East starting at 105 with Jerusalem, Istanbul at 106, mixed with Central & Eastern Europe. China is entering this challenger’s area with Shanghai at 115. Latam starts at 132 (Mexico City), South Africa at 151 (Cape Town), Africa at 161 (Tunis) and India at 164 (Bangalore). This area of emerging cities is stalled or even worsening the distance with challengers.
Cities today face deep uncertainty —post-pandemic recovery, economic instability, geopolitical conflicts, and the growing but costly challenge of climate change. Meanwhile, younger generations face declining economic prospects. In this context, talent seeks cities where they can thrive and enjoy life, with quality of experience becoming a key driver —reflected in the renewed appeal of tourism and lifestyle-focused urban living.
Talent today seeks Lovable Cities —places that offer emotional connection, culture, and well-being —assuming good services and demanding affordability. While performance is strong across modern cities, Lovability stands out as the top priority. It reflects a human-centered approach where citizen happiness drives quality of life. Young professionals value vibrant social life, diversity, and urban nature, and companies follow this trend by locating in cities that attract talent. As a result, cities become more inclusive, creative, and resilient.
Case of Dubai: Security & Quality of Life vs Global Uncertainty
Dubai is known for its impressive architectural development, with landmarks like the Burj Khalifa and the man-made Palm Jumeirah islands. Its futuristic vision combined with luxury, innovation, and traditional Arab culture make it one of the most fascinating cities in the world.
Dubai ranks first in the World Observatory for Attractive Cities for talent 2025. It achieves this position by combining absolute leadership in Profitability with an intermediate position (72) in Magnetism (Identity-100, Dynamism-23 and Strategy-86).
Dubai ranks first in terms of profitability as a city due to its strategic position as a global business hub, its tax-free policies, and its diverse economy. The city has attracted significant foreign investment by offering a stable political environment, world-class infrastructure, and business-friendly regulations. Its sectors, ranging from finance and real estate to tourism and logistics, thrive on Dubai’s ability to connect markets across Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Dubai scores exceptionally high in perception KPIs, meaning people globally view Dubai as dynamic, modern, and future-ready. Its proactive government policies, smart city strategies, and global events contribute to a bold, forward-looking image.
We would highlight three fundamental pillars on which the emirate bases this leadership: security, quality of life, and ambition.
Dubai leads the world rankings in terms of security. Most importantly, it is comprehensive security, not only physical but also legal security and solid financial stability for investment movements. In this way, Dubai offers peace of mind and security for any investor and is positioned as the leading economic hub and investments attraction in the Gulf/Middle East. The Dubai Police stand out globally for being one of the most committed and best prepared in terms of human and technological resources, safeguarding the city and the emirate, and building a foundation of trust, excellence, and global reputation.
In terms of quality of life, Dubai is gaining ground in this Observatory every year, offering a highly attractive environment in terms of culture and tourism, an extraordinary arrival and accommodation experience for expatriates, and excellent ease of starting a new business and accessing visas. It’s high reputation as a guarantee for any economic activity, good electronic communications, multicultural respect, international cuisine, and strong ongoing investment in international events and activities offer a place with an extraordinary quality of life.
It is true that a high percentage of the population are foreigners who work hard in construction, but it must also be considered that Dubai is a paradise for them in terms of life opportunities, safety, and health, compared to their countries of origin. The harsh climate, long distance from Western economic centres, lack of green spaces, and shortage of identity and culture compared to traditional iconic cities are offset by a brilliant present in terms of investment and talent attraction, and a very promising future based on innovation —something that is particularly noteworthy in the current climate of global uncertainty and political instability.
This is a well-deserved recognition of the investment on digital and social transformation Dubai has experienced in recent years. But global competition to attract and retain talent is fierce, and much work remains to be done. We sincerely congratulate the Dubai authorities, but also encourage them to continue their dedication, learning from best practices and leading the adoption of innovation to improve Dubai’s quality of life and attractiveness to talent.
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ABOUT JOSÉ ANTONIO ONDIVIELA
Prof. José Antonio Ondiviela, PhD, is the Director of the Citizen-Centric Intelligent Cities Research Institute of the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, Madrid. He is the author of the Worldwide Observatory for Attractive Cities. You can access the 6th edition here and explore the full research repository via this link. Feel free to connect with him on Linkedin. Correspondence: josea.ondiviela@ufv.es.
Images | Milan Ivanovic, Vitaly Gariev, paweldotio, Adam Le Sommer.
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2wThis article perfectly captures the global shift we’re seeing. From cities competing for companies to competing for people. As director of a tech incubator in Coimbra, Portugal, I see this happening daily: talented founders from outside the EU choosing our city not just for business, but for life. It’s not only about affordability or infrastructure, it’s about belonging, purpose, and human-scale ecosystems. Coimbra may not (yet) appear in the global talent rankings, but it has everything to become a city of choice in this new geography of meaning. We’re working on that through initiatives like the Coimbra Tech District, which aims to connect talent, territory, and innovation and help put Coimbra on the international map for the right reasons. Thank you for sparking this essential conversation.