Mumbai: India's prima urbis ranks number 17 on the list of the 20 most colourful cities selected from 125 worldwide by Berlew Nottingham Design Studio in June. Blue city Jodhpur was no 5. Rainbow village, Burano in Italy, is number 1 on the list.
The list was announced at the start of the holiday season as travelers select destinations to visit. According to the creators of the list, colour is strategic in the marketing of a destination. Tourists are attracted by colour. Colour is not just an aesthetic choice; it is a statement, said Berlew Nottingham Design Studios, in its citation.
Cohesive colour strategy builds emotional resonance, drives recognition, and creates the kind of summer-inspiration images that dominate travel feeds worldwide, the studio added
Cities received higher rankings based on their chromatic diversity and vibrancy in the intensity of the colours. Cities that exhibited a wider range of bold and vivid colours, either by design as in the case of Jodhpur, or unintentionally like Mumbai, received a higher score.
The judges studied five high-resolution photographs from each city sourced from the public. Five dominant colours were chosen for every city, resulting in 625 unique colour palettes from the 125 cities. Mumbai's dominant colours were earthy tones reflecting heat and heritage, and rapid urbanisation. Mumbai is slotted between Naples, Italy, and Barcelona, Spain, on the list.
Jodhpur, Rajasthan, was the highest-ranking Indian city in the list with its dominant colours being deep royal blue, light blue, medium blue, white, warm brown, and green. Burano wears shades of red, pink, yellow, sky blue, pale peach, and forest green.
Havana in Cuba; Istanbul, Turkey; Copenhagen, Denmark, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, were other prominent cities on the list. San Francisco in the United States and Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam were behind Mumbai. Other Indian cities that were part of the study, such as Hyderabad, did not make it to the top 20
