Die Ver­ei­ni­gung EUROCITIES (ver­gleich­bar mit einem euro­päi­schen Städ­te­tag) hat­te uns heu­te zu einem Vor­trag ein­ge­la­den. Auf ihrer Ver­an­stal­tung zum The­ma „Web 2.0: impact on cities and citi­zens” waren wir in Den Haag vor Ort. Sie hält das The­ma cityTLDs für eine rele­van­te Ent­wick­lung für Städ­te, und bat uns daher um einen Vortrag.

eurocities

Zuvor hat­ten sich meh­re­re Dele­gier­te bereits mit dem ver­füg­ba­ren Infor­ma­ti­ons­ma­te­ri­al fit gemacht. Demen­spre­chend vie­le Fra­gen waren dann auch im Anschluß an den Vor­trag und in den Pau­sen zu beant­wor­ten. Ver­tre­ter aus Wien, Den Haag, Ant­wer­pen, Gent und Lodz signa­li­sier­ten spon­ta­nes Inter­es­se für ihr Stand­ort­mar­ke­ting. Der Ver­tre­ter aus Man­ches­ter befürch­te­te, dass er leer aus­gin­ge, da das Man­ches­ter in der USA viel grö­ßer sei als das Britische.

Pro­gramm hier.

Mei­ne Anspra­che im Originaltext:

Ladies and Gentlemen!

My name is Dirk Kri­schenow­ski and I’m the foun­der of the .ber­lin cityTLD initiative.

Thank you for invi­ting and giving me the oppor­tu­ni­ty to talk about a glo­bal deve­lo­p­ment which will have impact on the digi­tal face of cities in the near future.

By this deve­lo­p­ment I mean own vir­tu­al name spaces for cities, also cal­led city top-level domains or cityTLDs.

In a cou­ple of cities the­re are curr­ent­ly cityTLDs in deve­lo­p­ment and will lead to domain names like www.hotels.paris, www.wall.berlin or www.mayor.nyc. You can ima­gi­ne that the­se new domain names will con­cern and reach the enti­re city com­mu­ni­ty, from govern­ment to the smal­lest busi­ness and the citizens.

Why are the­se cityTLDs so inte­res­t­ing for cities?

You all are well awa­re that cities must deve­lop Uni­que Desti­na­ti­on Pro­po­si­ti­ons to sus­tain the city’s brand and com­pe­ti­ti­ve­ness. And at this con­fe­rence you are tal­king about the high rele­van­ce and chan­ces the Inter­net has for the city communication.

In this con­text the cityTLDs are a new deve­lo­p­ment. To explain what cityTLDs are let me use some com­pa­ri­sons: On one hand cityTLDs are a basic and sus­tainable tele­com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on infra­struc­tu­re, com­pa­ra­ble to a new tele­pho­ne area-code.

On the other hand cityTLDs are a very visi­ble city mar­ke­ting and com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on tool which gives the city’s name annu­al­ly bil­li­on-fold atten­ti­on world­wi­de, becau­se aut­ho­ri­ties, busi­nesses and peo­p­le will use domain names with the city name insi­de for web­sites and email.

I would be hap­py to start dis­cus­sing the chan­ces of cityTLDs with you here at the con­fe­rence. Plea­se find more infor­ma­ti­on and artic­les on cityTLDs at the front desk.

Thank you! – Dirk Krischenowski