World Cities Culture Report

The World Cities Culture Report 2012 is a major global initiative on culture and the future of cities, established by the Mayor of London. It is a celebration of the importance of culture in the public and political life of world cities.

About the report

The World Cities Culture Report 2012 explores the culture of 12 of the world's most important cities through data and policy analysis. By using more than 60 measures of cultural activity for each city it gives an unprecedented level of insight into their cultural strengths. This has been combined with portraits of nine of the cities, written in conjunction with them, examining the policy context in which culture is shaped in each place.

The report, though, is only the most visible part of a wide-ranging collaboration between the 12 cities. That project has brought the cities together to exchange ideas and learn from each other at events in Shanghai and London. As the project co-ordinators, we at BOP are hoping to build on the success of the World Cities Culture Report 2012 by extending the number of cities involved and developing a further programme of events, and working towards the next World Cities Culture Report in 2015.

In the meantime this website draws on the World Cities Culture Report 2012 and the events programme to date to paint a picture of urban culture in its most dynamic and diverse locations.

Paul Owens, Managing Director, BOP Consulting

Download the report in Japanese

Japanese-language fonts are required to read this report

Download a summary of the report in Turkish

The World Cities Culture Report 2012 is researched and written by BOP Consulting with King's College London on behalf of the Mayor of London and with the support and collaboration of the following partners.