[Urbanstudy] Global Urban Competitiveness Report 2007-08
Vinay Baindur
yanivbin at gmail.com
Sun Aug 24 19:45:38 IST 2008
www.gucp.org/admin/WebEdit/UploadFile/*Global*%20*Urban*%20*Competitiveness*
%20*Report*.doc Global Urban Competitiveness Report (2007~2008) News
Release
Global Urban Competitiveness Report (2007~2008) was released on the Fifth
International Forum on Urban Competitiveness on July 27th, 2008. The report
was prepared by a team led by Dr. Ni Pengfei from the Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences and Prof. Peter Karl Kresl from Bucknell University of the
United States, with input from a group of scholars from all around the
world.
Urban competitiveness is defined as a city's ability of creating more wealth
in a faster and better manner than other cities in the world. The report
measures the comprehensive competitiveness of 500 cities around the world in
terms of 9 indexes, namely GDP, per capita GDP, per unit area GDP, labor
productivity, number of multi-national enterprises settled in the city,
number of patent applications, price advantage, economic growth rate and
employment rate.
The top 20 most competitive cities identified by the report are: *New York
City**, **London**, **Tokyo**, **Paris**, **Washington D.C. **, **Los
Angeles**, **Stockholm**, **Singapore**, **San Francisco**, **Chicago**, **
Toronto**, **Seoul**, **Boston**, **San Diego**, **Auckland (U.S.)**, **
Helsinki**, **Madrid**, **Vienna**, **Philadelphia**, **Houston**. *Hongkong,
Shanghai, Shenzhen, Beijing rank 26, 41, 64, and 66 respectively. Regions
that perform best in terms of urban competitiveness and technological
competitiveness are North America and Europe. Asian cities are becoming more
and more competitive, especially those in China -- the top ten cities with
the fastest economy growth are mainly from China.
A further analysis of 9 indices show cities grow at different paces. This is
true not only for cities in the world economic core areas, but also for
those in the less developed areas. Some developed cities become even more
competitive, but some lesser developed cities are catching up. The gap
between the good performers and poor performers is widening. As a result, a
city's global competitiveness is changing all the time -- everything is
possible in the future. A city or a region has to keep working hard to avoid
falling behind.
The study finds that the urban competition in the world features a pattern
of "oligarch monopolization". GDP of the 10 largest cities accounts for 27%
of the total of all 500 cities. Global distribution of income is uneven,
with Europe and North America being the highest while Africa the lowest;
coastal areas being the highest and inland areas the lowest.
*Table 1: Top 20 cities in terms of comprehensive competitiveness*
Rank
Nominal/
Real Exchange rate
GDP
GDP Per Capita
GDP Per Square Kilometre
Employment Rate
Number of International Patents
Labor Productivity
Multinational Corporation Distribution
Real Economic Growth Rate(for 5 years)
Comprehensive Competitiveness
1
Yangon
Tokyo
Geneva
New York
Moscow
Tokyo
London
New York
Baotou
New York
2
Harare
Paris
New York
Geneva
Tijuana
Osaka
New York
London
Hohhot
London
3
Addis Ababa
New York
Oakland
Victoria
Baku
Paris
Detroit
Hongkong
Yantai
Tokyo
4
Phnom Penh
London
Edinburgh
Macao
Acapulco
London
New Orleans
Paris
Dongguan
Paris
5
Pyongyang
Mexico City
Washington
Lyon
Quanzhou
New York
Philadelphia
Tokyo
Baku
Washington
6
Accra
Los Angeles
London
San Francisco
Oakland
Seoul
Boston
Singapore
Zhongshan
Los Angeles
7
Kinshasa
Hongkong
Oslo
Manchester
Al Kuwayt
Stuttgart
Cleveland
Beijing
Huizhou
Stockholm
8
Ho Chi Minh City
Seoul
Belfast
San Juan
Minsk
San Diego
Oslo
Shanghai
Weifang
Singapore
9
Hanoi
Sydney
Basel
Nottingham
Shenzhen
San Jose
San Jose
Moscow
Wuhu
San Francisco
10
Kampala
Melbourne
Zurich
Kawasaki
Huizhou
Stockholm
Baltimore
Sydney
Manaus
Chicago
11
Conakry
Chicago
Helsinki
Seoul
Weihai
Wilmington
Stockholm
Milan
Weihai
Toronto
12
Delhi
Shanghai
Paris
London
Dushanbe
Houston
Helsinki
Madrid
Hefei
Seoul
13
Mumbai
Yokohama
Boston
Milan
Victoria
Yokohama
Oakland
Frankfurt
Doha
Boston
14
Calcutta
Singapore
San Jose
Nagoya
Beijing
Washington
Buffalo
Brussels
Rizhao
San Diego
15
Bangalore
Berlin
San Francisco
Tokyo
San Luis Potosi
Palo Alto
Houston
Los Angeles
Nanchang
Oakland
16
Ahmedabad
Toronto
Stockholm
Boston
St. Petersburg
Kawasaki
Glasgow
Toronto
Veracruz
Helsinki
17
Lucknow
Madrid
Nottingham
Yokohama
Dongguan
San Francisco
Chicago
Taipei
Omsk
Madrid
18
Hyderabad
Houston
Bergen
Wilmington
Merida
Chiba
Nice
Seoul
Zibo
Vienna
19
Jaipur
Osaka
Glasgow
Bristol
Morelia
Berlin
Atlanta
Warsaw
Shenzhen
Philadelphia
20
Chennai
Rome
Copenhagen
Honolulu
Arlington
Kyoto
Marseille
Washington
Suzhou
Houston
The report indicates that there has been a change in economic centers in the
world. Top 10 cities with the most multinational corporations are: *New York
**, **London**, **Hong Kong**, Paris, **Tokyo**, Singapore, Beijing,
Shanghai. Moscow, Sydney, Milan, Madrid.*
While cities in developed countries dominate, cities in emerging developing
countries are also booming. Top 10 cities with the most patent applications
are: *Tokyo**, Osaka, Paris, London, New York, Seoul, Stuttgart, San Diego,
San Jose. Stockholm, Wilmington, Houston*.Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing rank
at 33, 47, 56 respectively.
The report looks at seven explanatory components of urban competitiveness,
comprising 103 indexes in 150 cities. The components are categorized into:
enterprise competitiveness, industrial structure, human resources, "hard"
business environment, "soft" business environment, living environment, and
global connection. The top 20 cities in each category are as follows:
Enterprise competitiveness: *Seattle**, **Washington**, **Zurich**, **San
Francisco**, **Berlin**, **Philadelphia**, **Dallas**, **The Hague**, **San
Jose**, **Boston**, **Helsinki**, **Tokyo**, **Houston**, **Osaka**, **
Munich**, **Kyoto**, **San Diego**, **Minneapolis**, **Los Angeles**, **
Copenhagen**.*
Industrial structure: *Tokyo**, **New York**, **London**, **Paris**, **Hong
Kong**, **Chicago**, **Toronto**, **Taipei**, **Zurich**, **Singapore**, **
Atlanta**, **Madrid**, **Sydney**, **Washington**, **Bombay**, **Seoul**, **
Stockholm**, **Brussels**, **Dublin**, **Amsterdam**.*
Competitiveness of human resources: *Paris**, **Tokyo**, **Sao Paulo**, **
Singapore**, **Prague**, **Bogota**, **Mexico City**, **Washington**, **
Seoul**, **The Hague**, **Moscow**, **Helsinki**, **Madrid**, **Liverpool**,
**Stockholm**, **Beijing**, **San Jose**, **London**, **Rio Generaud**, **
Warsaw**.***
"Hard" business environment : *Tokyo**, **New York**, **Boston**, **San
Francisco**, **Chicago**, **London**, **Washington**, **Philadelphia**, **San
Jose**, **Seattle**, **Atlanta**, **Los Angeles**, **Houston**, **Yokohama**,
**Kawasaki**, **St. Louis**, **Dallas**, **San Diego**, **Osaka**, **Kyoto**
.*
"Soft" business environment : *Singapore**, **Chicago**, **Hong Kong**, **
Boston**, **San Francisco**, **Los Angeles**, **Wellington**, **Geneva**, **
Seattle**, **Phoenix**, **Copenhagen**, **New York**, **Zurich**, **Las
Vegas**, **San Jose**, **Auckland**, **Kawasaki**, **Stockholm**, **Sydney**,
**Dublin**.***
Living environment: *Paris**, **Sydney**, **Lisbon**, **Melbourne**, **
Brisbane**, **Rome**, **Vienna**, **Milan**, **Athens**, **Auckland**, **
Barcelona**, **Geneva**, **Brussels**, **Wellington**, **Munich**, **Las
Vegas**, **Madrid**, **Sacramento**, **Frankfurt**, **Budapest**.***
Global connection: *New York**, **London**, **Los Angeles**, **Paris**, **
Singapore**, **Amsterdam**, **Rotterdam**, **Tokyo**, **Chicago**, **Boston*
*, **Dublin**, **Miami**, **Dubai**, **Shanghai**, **Hamburg**, **
Philadelphia**, **Hong Kong**, **Barcelona**, **Athens**, **Sydney.***
The analysis of the key elements that affect a city's competitiveness shows
that for each of the seven components, the most essential elements are:
For enterprise competitiveness - corporate management; for industrial
structure -- industrial cluster; for human resources -- education; for hard
business environment -- scientific and technological innovation; for soft
business environment: strategic orientation; for living environment –
quality of ecological environment; and for global connection – corporate
connection.
Case studies of 10 best performing cities --* London, Seoul, Singapore,
Toronto, Vienna, Helsinki, Phoenix, Dubai, Shenzhen and Yangzhou *– are
constructed to summarize best practice in innovation and sustainable
development that can be refered by other cities .
The report finds that good performers in the world are making the following
efforts in order to compete with their global rivals:
*1. **outlining development strategies and providing guidance in
planning;*
*2. **improving business environment to support small and medium-sized
enterprises;*
*3. **promoting industrial upgrade'; achieving the transformation of
the city;*
*4. **offering life-long education to citizens and encouraging the
inflow of talents; *
*5. **paying attention to the environment protection and pursuing
sustainable development; *
*6. **designing city brand and marketing the city; *
*7. **building service-oriented government by implementing enterprise
management model in city management;*
*8. **fostering city's special characteristics and cultivating
diversified cultures.*
* *
The report urges that with a growing urbanization, government should attach
greater importance to the sustainable development of economy, society,
environment and culture, promote urban competitiveness and build their
cities into the nicest home for people.
To achieve that goal, government officials have to deal with the following
10 issues:
*1. **giving local government larger autonomy, and properly handling
the relationship between central and local governments;*
*2. **creating a better environment for businesses, and engaging market
forces into government policy making;*
*3. **maintaining local features while expanding communications with
the world; providing life-long education to the public to facilitate
industrial upgrade; promoting innovation and entrepreneurship;*
*4. **balanced development of economic and social development;
promoting integration of city and region;*
*5. **developing multiple industries; *
*6. **preserving and inheriting historical culture;*
*7. **balanced development of business environment and residential
environment. *
* *
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