Place-making and Policies for Competitive Cities

Urban policy makers are increasingly striving to strengthen the economic competitiveness of their cities. Currently, they do that mainly in the field of the creative knowledge economy - arts, media, entertainment, creative business services, architecture, publishing, design; and ICT, R&D, finance, and law. This book is about the policies that help to realise such objectives: policies driven by classic location theory, cluster policies, creative class policies aimed at attracting talent, as well as policies that connect to pathways, place and personal networks. The experiences and policy strategies of 13 city-regions across Europe have been investigated: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Birmingham, Budapest, Dublin, Helsinki, Leipzig, Milan, Munich, Poznan, Riga, Sofia and Toulouse. All have different histories and roles: capital cities and secondary cities; cities with different economies and industries; port-based cities and land-locked cities. And all 13 have different cultural, political and welfare state traditions. Through this wide set of contexts, Place-making and Policies for Competitive Citiescontributes to the debate about the development of creative knowledge cities, their economic growth and competitiveness and advocates the development of context-sensitive tailored approaches. Chapter authors from the 13 European cities rigorously evaluate, reformulate and test assumptions behind old and new policies. This solidly-grounded and policy-focused study on the urban policy of place-making highlights practices for different contexts in managing knowledge-intensive cities and, by drawing on the varied experiences from across Europe, it establishes the state-of-the-art for both academic and policy debates in a fast-moving field.

Urban policy makers are increasingly striving to strengthen theeconomic competitiveness of their cities. Currently, they do thatmainly in the field of the creative knowledge economy - artsmedia, entertainment, creative business services, architecturepublishing, design; and ICT, R&D, finance, and law. This bookis about the policies that help to realise such objectives:policies driven by classic location theory, cluster policies'creative class' policies aimed at attracting talentas well as policies that connect to pathways, place and personalnetworks.The experiences and policy strategies of 13 city-regions acrossEurope have been investigated: Amsterdam, Barcelona, BirminghamBudapest, Dublin, Helsinki, Leipzig, Milan, Munich, Poznan, RigaSofia and Toulouse. All have different histories and roles: capitalcities and secondary cities; cities with different economies andindustries; port-based cities and land-locked cities. And all 13have different cultural, political and welfare state traditions.Through this wide set of contexts, Place-making and Policies forCompetitive Citiescontributes to the debate about thedevelopment of creative knowledge cities, their economic growth andcompetitiveness and advocates the development of context-sensitivetailored approaches. Chapter authors from the 13 European citiesrigorously evaluate, reformulate and test assumptions behind oldand new policies.This solidly-grounded and policy-focused study on the urbanpolicy of place-making highlights practices for different contextsin managing knowledge-intensive cities and, by drawing on thevaried experiences from across Europe, it establishes thestate-of-the-art for both academic and policy debates in afast-moving field.