I have just been to Paris and London, two of the most magnetic cities in the world. Hemingway said that Paris is everyone’s second city and it is hard to argue with that. Meanwhile, London is the closest thing we have to a capital city for the world, attracting more than 30 million visitors every year from across the globe.
The first day after I returned I visited the new Louvre Abu Dhabi, an incredible tribute to creativity and humanity that will attract huge numbers of visitors in the future. It is one more indication that Abu Dhabi is competing successfully to be among the world's most attractive cities.
Some cities attract people, some cities repel them. We all have our lists of favourites and those we vow never to set foot in again. But what is the secret to being a city that people want to work and play in?
Partly it is the promise of a better life; partly the climate; partly how easy it is to get in and out of. But to be a shining city on a hill, I think you also need what I call CITY: culture, inclusion, tolerance and youth. Those are the magic ingredients that set apart the cities we love from those that we loathe.
Culture is what makes a city unique. This is not just about museums, galleries and theatres, vital as they are to a city’s soul. It is also about the spirit of the city. Is it innovative, interesting, intriguing? Does it have a story to tell and take pride in telling it? Paris and Beirut are just two examples of cities that have this, in different ways. The back streets of the Left Bank near the Seine and Gemmayzeh are places to get lost in, to wander and wonder.
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Inclusion and tolerance are just as important. Does the city welcome strangers and help them to fit in? Does it see difference and diversity as an opportunity or a threat? Does it seek to attract not just the wealthiest, but all those seeking a better life? Does it invite guests to be part of its story? This has always been the spirit of New York, as Sinatra encapsulated so well when he sang “I want to be a part of it”. More than 80 per cent of those choosing to live in Abu Dhabi are foreigners, surely one of the highest proportions anywhere in the world. And it is no coincidence that the British capital chose the slogan "London is open" for an advertising campaign last year.
Youth is, of course, where a city gets its energy, dynamism and sense of constant renewal. It is about that sense of being a place that understands the need to earmark and preserve spaces to meet, create and relax. Singapore is a great example of this, not least through its investment in the modern skills that its young people need to thrive. Dubai's Museum of the Future signals a similar level of dynamism and ambition.
Getting this right is going to matter more in the 21st century. The rebirth of the city-state will be a key feature of the new power landscape. More than half the world's population already live in cities and the population of megacities has increased tenfold in 40 years. By 2030 that figure will be five billion, or 60 per cent of the population, and 40 cities will have a population of more than 10 million. By 2050 there will be more city dwellers than the entire population of the world in the 1990s.
Many mayors have argued that the city is already the most effective government unit, close enough to citizens to engage but with increasing powers to shape lives. With trust in national politics falling in much of the world, the ambitious politician will, in the coming decades, often choose municipal over state politics. Many cities are already ahead of national governments on urban regeneration, citizen engagement, energy and transportation. Cities can succeed, even in failed states. But no state succeeds without successful cities.
As they gain power at the expense of states, cities will increasingly compete in the way that countries do. Look at the already intense contests to host major sports events. Cities might become less willing to cede decisions over global governance to nation states. You can already see how cities are flexing their muscles in standing up to the Trump administration’s attempt to withdraw the US from efforts to tackle climate change.
As a result of these changes, we might also find that our identities become shaped to an even greater extent by our city of residence more than the country of origin — look at New Yorkers, Londoners, Beirutis or Parisians.
Cities have often thrived when they are close to the energy source of the era. But history is full of the ruins of cities that thought they would last forever. In many cases they were destroyed by war and the belief that building walls rather than bridges was the best way to survive. In some cases they were destroyed by geography, levelled dramatically by earthquakes or slowly corroded by the failure to adapt to technological change.
Tomorrow’s cities of opportunity will have learnt these lessons. They will act as talismanic examples of tolerance and co-existence. They will become beacons for progress in the countries that surround them. They will establish new partnerships with each other to promote understanding and perhaps ambassadors will once again represent cities, as they did in the early days of European diplomacy. While some countries compete to show that they are closed, protectionist and nativist, they will compete to show that they are open, dynamic and diverse.
Augustus said that he found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble. We need a similar ambition for tomorrow’s cities. Those that do best in the 21st century will be those that are magnetic.
Tom Fletcher is a former UK ambassador and adviser to three prime ministers. He is an adviser at the Emirates Diplomatic Academy, visiting professor at New York University Abu Dhabi and the author of The Naked Diplomat: Power and Politics in the Digital Age
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Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Pearls on a Branch: Oral Tales
Najlaa Khoury, Archipelago Books
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Company%C2%A0profile
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Three ways to limit your social media use
Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.
1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.
2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information.
3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
The specs
Engine: 1.6-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 217hp at 5,750rpm
Torque: 300Nm at 1,900rpm
Transmission: eight-speed auto
Price: from Dh130,000
On sale: now
More coverage from the Future Forum
Results:
CSIL 2-star 145cm One Round with Jump-Off
1. Alice Debany Clero (USA) on Amareusa S 38.83 seconds
2. Anikka Sande (NOR) For Cash 2 39.09
3. Georgia Tame (GBR) Cash Up 39.42
4. Nadia Taryam (UAE) Askaria 3 39.63
5. Miriam Schneider (GER) Fidelius G 47.74
