San Diego's Sustainable Competitiveness Report

On Friday, I interviewed Julie Meier Wright, the President and CEO of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation for my new book on economic development leadership. She informed me about her organization's new report on sustainable competitiveness. Here is a short summary.

The report analyzes three critical quality of life indicators – economy, environment and equity -- that affect the region’s long-term prosperity and competitiveness.

The 2005 Indicators of Sustainable Competitiveness Report reveals how well San Diego’s quality of life stacks up against 18 similar metro regions, revealing where it excels and where it falls short, as well as how it has done since a similar study in 2001.

According to the latest results, San Diego sustainable competitiveness ranks ninth overall, the same as it did in 2001. The Seattle area ranked first in the report (up from number five in 2001), followed by Denver, Portland, Raleigh, and Austin. At the bottom of the list were Phoenix, Sacramento, Tampa, Orange County, and Washington, D.C.