Why would a city declare itself an Official Multilingual City? Isn't it enough to just be diverse?

A city may have people who speak a variety of languages and therefore be a linguistically diverse community. However, if there aren't articulated commitments to the value of that diversity and deliberate initiatives to foster and be able to access the benefits of such diversity, those language assets are often lost. Without deliberate efforts to develop language resources, fewer people are likely to become multilingual. Also, an official declaration as a multilingual city sends clear messages to our international business, governmental, educational and cultural partners that we value strengthening our mutual ties by making strategic attempts to learn and use their languages.