Introducing Gallup's "Soul do the City" program for metropolitan surveys/city marketing

from City Mayors (10/21):

Gallup can offer cities the tools
to attract the ‘creative classes’
Tann vom Hove interviews Robert Manchin
With contributions by Aurélien Renard and John Chapman

"21 October 2008: In a rapidly globalizing world, cities are increasingly competing with each other for the most skilled and talented people. Robert Manchin, Chairman and Managing Director of Gallup Europe, believes that only by understanding the needs of their citizens and by providing them with a high quality of life can cities appeal to the ‘creative classes’. Gallup has developed a strategic decision-making tool, the Soul of the City, which offers a comprehensive benchmark of urban dwellers’ attitudes towards and satisfaction with a city’s governance, socio-economic, sustainability and cultural spheres. In an interview with City Mayors editor Tann vom Hove, Robert Manchin explains the background of the Soul of the City tool and how cities can gain a competitive advantage by using it.

City Mayors: Gallup’s ‘Soul of the City’ programme has been described as a tool to allow municipal governments to gauge how satisfied citizens are with the work of their city halls. Could you briefly describe the programme?

Robert Manchin: The programme has a long history as it has evolved based on the experiences of working with various cities around the world. It dates back to some of the early work done in the US with Alec and George Gallup. Although we were all working in different parts of the globe, we soon realised that the core demands were similar in many cities. As the underlying technology improved, Gallup was able to provide more comparative data that could help in social planning and in the delivery of urban services." ...

for the complete interview

for Gallup's factsheet and a demo