The Image of Tehran in the World: A Painful Question

The history of human civilization is intertwined with the names of renowned cities. Babylon, Athens, Alexandria, Rome, Constantinople, Baghdad, Samarkand, Isfahan, and others have shone brightly in their regions and even across vast parts of the world, attracting artists, craftsmen, merchants, and seekers of fame, power, and wealth. In today's world, characterized by the process of 'globalization', global cities, also known as 'planetary cities', 'city-worlds', or 'megacities', have become major centers of politics and economics on Earth. In fact, the process of 'globalization' is carried out on the shoulders of these global cities, which possess the following characteristics: 1) They have concentrated global governance centers, especially the offices of large multinational companies that organize economic activity and the international division of labor in a large part of the world. 2) They house major artistic, cultural, academic, research centers, and innovations of new goods and services. 3) They are equipped with very advanced infrastructure in transportation and communications. 4) They attract brains, goods, services, and capital from all corners of the world and send them to all corners of the world. Today's world revolves around global cities, whether those like Paris, London, and Amsterdam that have maintained their brilliance for centuries and adapted to the modern world, or those like Shanghai, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi that are primarily products of the last fifty years. Given the position of cities in the wealth and power of various countries and regions of the world, evaluating their roles and classifying them based on objective and subjective criteria has become increasingly important for decision-makers in various fields, including investment, trade, and tourism. In other words, cities are under the microscope of expert circles and are graded. The reputable French institute 'Ipsos', which specializes in measuring opinions, marketing, and consulting, has ranked the world's major cities for the second time since 2013 and published a report on July 11 in this regard. In this year's ranking, 'Ipsos' prepared a list of sixty major cities in the world and presented it for consultation to 18,557 citizens aged sixteen to sixty-four in twenty-six countries. This survey was conducted between April 21 and May 5 of this year. In its survey, 'Ipsos' posed three questions to its audience and asked them to respond based on their observations and hearsay: a) In your opinion, which city has the best living conditions? Based on this question, Zurich ranked first with eighteen percent of the votes, followed by Sydney, Abu Dhabi, Vancouver, and Stockholm in second to fifth places, respectively. Tehran received zero percent of the votes for this question. b) Which city has the best conditions for trade? In the ranking based on this question, New York ranked first with 23 percent of the votes, while Abu Dhabi, London, Hong Kong, and Tokyo ranked second to fifth. In this ranking as well, Tehran was at the bottom with zero percent. c) In which of these sixty cities would you like to spend your vacation? In this ranking, Paris ranked first with 21 percent of the votes, followed by Rome, New York, London, and Sydney in second to fifth places. Tehran received one percent of the votes in this regard. By calculating the results from these three rankings, 'Ipsos' computed an overall index, according to which New York is at the highest level. The next four cities are Abu Dhabi, London, Paris, and Tokyo; however, Tehran, based on the overall index, ranked sixtieth among these sixty countries, and its position is even worse than that of Lagos (Nigeria), Karachi (Pakistan), and Nairobi (Kenya). If readers consider this evaluation exaggerated and do not believe that Tehran's position is, for example, 24 places worse than that of Cairo (as stated in this report), the author of this note shares their doubts. Nevertheless, it should not be forgotten that 'Ipsos' asked its audience to express their opinions based on their observations and hearsay about the sixty cities on this list. In other words, this opinion is largely subjective; however, the subjectivity of this judgment does not diminish its importance. This shows how the world perceives Tehran, and the image of Iran in the world, whether right or wrong, is drawn based on these 'observations'. This image, whether we like it or not, affects the entry of investors and tourists into the country and, in other words, reflects in the job market and the livelihoods of Iranians. The world is such, and for this reason, improving the image in global public opinion is one of the most important strategic goals of countries to attract talent, capital, and technology. The very painful but unavoidable question is: why has the image of Iran's capital fallen so drastically? The future hinges on Iranians' answers to this key question.