The book investigates the impact on the competitiveness of citiesdeveloping creative industries (arts, media, entertainment,creative business services, architects, publishers, designers) andknowledge-intensive industries (ICT, R&D, finance, law). Itprovides significant new knowledge to the theoretical and practicalunderstanding of the conditions necessary to stimulate "creativeknowledge" cities.
The editors compare the socio-economic developments, experiencesand strategies in 13 urban regions across Europe: Amsterdam,Barcelona, Birmingham, Budapest, Dublin, Helsinki, Leipzig, Milan,Munich, Poznan, Riga, Sofia and Toulouse. These have differenthistories and roles; include capital and non-capital cities ofdifferent sizes; represent cities with different economicstructures; and different cultural, political and welfare statetraditions.
Through this wide set of examples, Making CompetitiveCities informs the debate about creative andknowledge-intensive industries, economic development, andcompetitiveness policies. It focuses on which metropolitan regionshave a better chance to develop as "creative knowledge regions" andwhich do not, as well as investigating why this is so and what canpolicy do to influence change.
Chapter authors from thirteen European institutions rigorouslyevaluate, reformulate and empirically test assumptions about citiesand their potential for attracting creative and knowledge-intensiveindustries. As well as a systematic empirical comparison ofdevelopments related to these industries, the book examines thepathways that cities have followed and surveys both the negativeand positive impacts of different prevailing conditions.
Special Features:
* Analyses link between knowledge-intensive sectors and urbancompetitiveness
* Offers evidence from 13 European urban regions drawn from amajor research project
* Establishes a new benchmark for academic and policy debates ina fast-moving field