There are a few things about Boston that need taking care of. Like any other city across the globe, things here in The Hub aren’t exactly perfect. But one thing that nobody can contend is just how resilient Boston is. We live and experience this notion on a daily basis, especially given current events like the recent Boston Marathon. What some of us might not realize, though, is that this idea of resiliency has transcended our little corner of New England and become known to the international community at large.

According to a new report from the Grosvenor Group, a property development company owned privately by The Duke of Westminster and his family since the 1677, which ranked cities worldwide on specific traits that constitute resilience, Boston sits in good company among the top 10 internationally in that regard.

In fact, Boston was the third American city to crack the rankings, following Chicago and Pittsburgh, taking the number seven ranking overall. The Canadian metropolises of Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary swept the top three, followed by the Windy and Steel cities, Stockholm (Sweden), Boston, Zurich (Switzerland), Washington D.C. and Atlanta.

To determine such an expansive ranking system, Grosvenor first needed to define resiliency. As written in the study, they characterized the esteemed trait as “the ability of a city to avoid or bounce back from an adverse event – comes from the interplay of vulnerability and adaptive capacity.”

They then came to the conclusion that vulnerability and adaptability were still too broad to use as benchmarks for measuring a city’s resiliency. Grosvenor based the former on climate, environment, resources, infrastructure and community, while they did the same for the latter with governance, institutions, technical capacity, planning systems and funding structures.

Translation: A city vulnerable to the aforementioned criteria that’s able to adapt using the second set of traits is the deciding factor for municipal resiliency.

The various data sets from each city were then imposed on an un-weighted scale of 100, covering all aspects of vulnerability and adaptability.

New York scored well in terms of adaptability, for example, coming in first for that specific section, but didn’t fare as well in terms of vulnerability. Surely Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath weighed heavily here, exemplifying that even a global center as robust and flexible as the Big Apple is not exempt from paying homage to the wrath of Mother Nature.

Conversely the German city of Frankfurt proved to be least vulnerable of any city considered, with the exception of Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver. Its adaptability, however, leaves plenty more to be desired.

For our part, Boston scored 12th overall in terms of vulnerability and ninth for adaptability for an aggregate score of seventh overall. This rank illustrates that while Boston is vulnerable to inclement weather, environmental hazards and depreciating infrastructure – though perhaps not as susceptibly as others – it has the means of facing these issues and implementing viable solutions to the benefit of its cityscape and, more importantly, its residents.

Take rising sea levels, for example. Boston could’ve easily been subjected to Hurricane Sandy’s detrimental consequences in the same fashion as New York City and the Jersey Shore to the south, but was skipped by a trick of fate. To that end citizens, researchers, developers and advocates brainstormed prevention measures and readjustment procedures for at-risk Boston areas through the exhibit aptly titled Sea Change: Boston.

But Boston is also evolving when it comes to tech and innovation, housing and learning. With just over 100 days in office under his belt, Mayor Marty Walsh has talked a big game when it comes to making Boston an international center of technology and startups and accommodating housing for less established professionals. The city’s deep-seeded high educational institutions, meanwhile, are constantly creating the standard by which most other colleges and university are measured.

This idea of resiliency has transcended our little corner of New England and become known to the international community at large.

If you take a look at the full list of cities, you’ll notice a trend that correlates strongly with location. Approximately the top third is dominated by cities in the United States and Canada, followed by a cocktail of European and Asian cities, and finally urban areas in South America and Africa.

“So far, blistering economic growth has not fed through into the quality and long term resilience of these cities,” reads the study. “The bottom 20 cities are considerably weaker than the top 30.”

The bottom of the ranking also shows that all but three cities are poised to boom in terms of population. Ten of the bottom 30 cities were tapped with the highest forecast population growth, perhaps hinting that the least resilient cities are also the ones with the lowest costs of living. But, population growth doesn’t particularly bode well for an already strapped city to adapt in expedited fashion. Resource capacity and infrastructure bend under a large population, and pose logistical problems for governance, institutions, technical and learning, planning systems and funding structure – all of the criteria that incorporates adaptability.

The best thing for Boston to do is keep on with this innovative streak. By constantly pushing the limits with respect to all aspects of society and culture, the Hub will keep bucking any negative trends that may prevent it from conforming to contemporary life.

Image via Shutterstock, Data via Grosvenor