ABSTRACT
The chapter considers the Urban Audit of Eurostat as the main source of comparative statistics. The launch and further elaboration of the Urban Audit have been a painstaking process with considerable troubles in gathering data that can really be compared and differences in the way in which and the frequency with which data are being gathered in European countries. The differences between Amsterdam, Barcelona, Helsinki and Munich were in fact rather small; all four cities had a significant role in the European and global networks of several of the service sectors studied in the World City Network programme. The extreme differences between Munich and Leipzig reflect the contrasts in wealth and development between West and East Germany that have persisted after German reunification. The two UK cities have a relatively expensive housing stock compared to the other five cities, which is surprising considering their relatively poor scores on economic indicators.
