York, Edinburgh and Bristol Lead on “Good Growth” — what does that mean?

If you work in real estate, you’re probably a student of cities, whether you realise it or not.

We study how cities came to be, how they’re changing, and what makes them thrive. The challenge, of course, is that cities are complex systems. But thanks to better data, new technology and the rise of the field of Urban Science, we’re starting to see them more clearly and think about them in new ways.

We also carry our own personal sense of what makes a good city. For me, that’s Glasgow (btw derived from the Gaelic “Glaschu” meaning Green Place!) and Singapore and a long list of others that I love for different reasons.

But too often, we still measure city success in purely economic terms: GDP, jobs, income growth. What if we moved beyond that, to include the things that shape our daily lives? Transport, high streets, housing, healthcare, natural space and community.

That’s why I really liked PwC’s new Good Growth for Cities 2025 report. They asked 2,000 people what makes a city successful, across 12 factors from jobs to work-life balance and then ranked 50 UK cities (excluding London).

A few highlights:

• Non-financial factors like skills, housing, and transport are growing in importance
• Income still matters, but its weight is falling
• York, Edinburgh and Bristol lead this year’s rankings
• Glasgow and Aberdeen are the fastest improvers

Check out your favorite city and see how it is performing in the Good Growth index.

But, beyond an index, each city always has unique, hyper-local challenges and opportunities.

Note to self- keep studying.