Cities are becoming self-aware. Despite re-emerging as a political force within the volatile context of a global market economy, cities are currently struggling to position themselves within a tangled network of private companies, national interest and a mobile population of highly-educated knowledge workers.

As city governments struggle to attract talent and investment within an internationally competitive marketplace, private enterprise in the form of management consultant firms and tech companies have produced a proliferation of independently authored city-ranking reports. Often disguised as banal ‘liveability’ metrics describing ostensibly ‘good’ urban qualities, these reports and rankings also establish a framework through which cities can become more attractive to both private investment and an ambitious, mobile workforce. The result is a kind of bizarre hostage situation. As cities bend to meet the terms of these reports and rankings, they also qualify and enhance their presence in a global network of privately owned companies and highly mobile knowledge workers. The sunny melange of cycle lanes, hip cafes and green zones is backed by a sinister underside of tax havens, legal enclaves and frictionless, free-market spaces. This text will describe the character trait shared by this type of city, company and worker as self-awareness.