Plenty has been written on the competitiveness of megacities, capital cities, and regional hubs. Cities in developing countries have not yet received the same attention – this book fills that gap. An international team of expert academics have come together to present a comprehensive study of the competitiveness of cities in the developing world. Spanning Asia, Africa, and Latin America, this book homes in on specific city cases and examines how they relate to the rest of the global economy. The focus is on acknowledging their unique contexts, while drawing out commonalities, and ultimately identifying ways for them to enhance their competitiveness, wellbeing, and sustainability. This volume will be valuable reading to advanced students, researchers, and policymakers in urban and regional studies, economic geography, and economic development.

During the past 25 years the burden of managing economic policy for competitiveness has devolved to cities and to urban regions. National governments have increasingly been focused on staving off fiscal collapse. Mayors and local administrations have become very creative and active in looking after the state of their local economy and have developed extensive agencies for inter-city cooperation and action. This book explores this evolving role of cities and urban regions. Intelligent and rational policy must be based on an accurate understanding of the situation at hand and of the economic theory that can be utilized in the assessment of the most effective means that can be deployed. This book examines the theoretical contributions of economists and geographers and through the analyses of the performance of various cities will give the reader an understanding of the logic behind rational policy formation. Evaluation of a city’s relative competitiveness is a controversial matter and this book provides a full treatment of the various approaches. Finally, it examines the experiences with competitiveness of several cities in North America and in Europe. Urban Competitiveness: Theory and Practice confirms that many cities in trying times do have a mechanism for enhancing their competitiveness and can work to create the sort of economic life the city’s residents want.

This report presents the outcomes of a survey project of the National Academy of Economic Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme. The project evaluated and ranked the competitiveness of 1,007 global cities, with a combined population of over 500,000, based on a number of selected indicators. The report provides an overview of the global urbanization pattern and areas of improvements in the selected cities. The outcomes of the project confirm that the formation and changes of global value chains have caused profound changes in economic structures in some countries and affected the development of cities in these countries, thereby reshaping the city planet. In addition to comparative analysis of competitiveness of cities, this report also sheds light on the global pattern and trends of economic and human development. It reveals four new findings regarding the development of cities around the world: First, over the past four decades, human societies are transitioning quickly from agricultural societies which are characterized by scattered settlements to industrial societies which are characterized by city clusters, interconnectivity, and resource sharing. The planet where we are living has become a city planet. Second, globalization and the advancements of smart and networking technologies have accelerated urbanization across the world in the past four decades. Third, cities are becoming increasingly metropolitan, interconnected, and smart. Fourth, sustainability scores of the selected global cities show olive-shaped distribution on the world map and sustainability performance of Asia cities has improved continuously.

Against the backdrop of today�s climate of economic globalization and the rapid development of information, this timely book explores the complex concept of competitiveness between cities. The expert contributors illustrate that innovation is a

This paper examines whether smart city programs, and information technology in general, contribute to urban competitiveness. Using regression analysis, it investigates the contribution of different metrics of the information economy, network society, online government and digital life to the competitiveness of cities. At a more general level, it seeks to measure the benefits of the application of information technology to the economic competitiveness, livability and environmental sustainability of cities. It concludes with guidance for urban development in developing countries.

What makes certain cities more competitive than others? Why is it that countries often find talent concentrated more so in a few regions than evenly spread across the country? What are the economic drivers that make cities more productive? These are a few of the many questions that this volume aims to answer.

This report was jointly launched by the National Academy of Economic Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and UN-HABITAT. Using the indicator system and objective data, the competitiveness of 1,035 global cities was evaluated in detail. The report measures the development pattern of global urban competitiveness as a whole, and the gap between the relevant parties and the ideal state. It has refreshed people's past perceptions of urban rankings and confirmed that the science and technology innovation center cities and central cities of emerging economies have begun to break the inherent global cities and they have entered the ranks of the most urban competitiveness.While paying attention to the comparison of competitiveness among cities, this report further promotes the perspective to the pattern and trend change of global economic and social development from the perspective of city. The followings are new findings: First, information technology has increasingly become the primary driving force for urban development; Second, it is the three meridians that divide the global urban population and economic differentiation; Third, the soft links between cities gradually dominate the global urban system; Fourth, the formation of new global cities is beginning.