The City Regions Project
Synthesis report: Paths to growth in medium-sized European cities
– with particular emphasis on the role of city collaboration
The project was carried out by DAMVAD and commissioned by the Danish municipalities of Aalborg, Aarhus and Odense and the North Denmark Region, the Central Denmark Region and the Region of Southern
Denmark.
April 2011
Preface
As the big city in each of their regions, Aalborg, Aarhus and Odense
all play a central role as hubs for growth, wealth and welfare – now
and in the future. The three cities are unique in their respective
regions, but in a larger context they are merely three among a very
large number of comparable, medium-sized European cities.
Therefore, the case descriptions of the individual cities do not
focus on the individual strengths and challenges of the cities. They
act more as general examples of how cities that are comparable
with Alborg, Aarhus and Odense work to promote growth and
development.
This prompts the question of how the three West Danish cities
perform compared with similar cities in other countries, and what
they can learn from other cities. For example, how do these cities
perform as core cities for a functional city region? How do they
collaborate with other core cities?
Based on these case descriptions, we have identified a number of
lessons learned that we believe to be relevant and important for
cities and city regions and their development.
The report should therefore be seen as an inspiration catalogue
that communicates ideas, insights and lessons learned as to how
These are the fundamental questions that the municipalities of
medium-sized cities like Aalborg, Aarhus and Odense and their city
Aalborg, Aarhus and Odense and the North Denmark Region, the
regions can promote growth and strengthen their position and
Central Denmark Region and the Region of Southern Denmark have influence in the national and international city landscape. As such,
joined forces to investigate.
the report is relevant for a broader range of medium-sized cities
across Europe.
The idea behind the project was to carry out qualitative case
studies of cities selected based on analyses of quantitative data on Nonetheless, we hope that this report will contributely positively to
city growth in various European countries. This was a very ambiti- the various planning and development strategies of the three West
ous starting point – too ambitious, as it turned out.
Danish cities, and not least help strengthen their intercity collaboration. We hope that the report will also inspire the ongoing work
It is relatively simple to identify cities that are comparable with
on the regional development plans in the North Denmark Region,
Aalborg, Aarhus and Odense in terms of size and performance.
the Central Denmark Region and the Region of Southern Denmark.
However, it is not possible to generate in-depth insights into these
cities’ strengths and weaknesses based on the available, internationally comparable data.
Put differently: The internationally available quantitative data on
cities’ growth alone does not allow for an analysis that explains
why different cities exhibit different levels of economic performance and growth.
Contents
Executive summary
5
1 Introduction
7
1.1 About the project 1.2 Main results of the project 1.3 Knowledge foundations for the project
7
7
10
2 On cities and their growth potential 13
2.1 Cities are growth engines for the economy
2.2 Medium-sized cities have big growth potential
2.3 Growth is created not within the municipality but within the city region 2.4 Growth is based on the quality of – and interaction between – the city’s resources
2.5 Intercity collaboration creates growth 2.6 There is no “one size fits all” strategy for growth
13
14
16
16
19
21
3 From clusters to related diversification and integrated growth policies
23
3.1 The cluster perspective does not focus on value creation 3.2 Focus on business development through related diversification 3.3 Build niche-based strongholds
3.4 Establish strong platforms for growth and collaboration 3.5 Work with integrated strategies for growth and urban development 23
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26
28
29
4 Create good conditions for collaboration within the city region 31
4.1 Collaboration can create growth in the entire city region
4.2 Bring key actors together on a burning platform 4.3 Clarify and communicate incentives for collaboration
4.4 Define ambitious and long-term visions and show active leadership 4.5 Create good conditions for collaboration
31
33
35
37
39
5 Organising and anchoring collaboration within the city region 41
5.1 Champions are great – but collaboration must be anchored
5.2 Establish independent organisations with their own mandates and means
5.3 Find the right balance between bottom-up and top-down initiatives 5.4 Strengthen and support growth initiatives via public involvement
5.5 Support the social infrastructure of the city region 41
42
44
45
47
6 Support the city’s growth through intercity collaboration 49
6.1 Collaboration can support the city region’s growth and adaptability 6.2 Use knowledge bridges and informal collaboration to encourage innovation
6.3 Find the right balance between cooperation and competition 6.4 Create a strong, united front through formal intercity collaboration 6.5 Ensure a professional organisation and management of the collaboration
6.6 Active leadership leads to greater influence 49
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Appendix: Overview of the case study cities 57
Executive summary
Large and medium-sized cities are important engines of growth
in the international knowledge economy because they act as
gathering places for businesses, labour and investments. However, cities differ significantly in their economic performance and
development.
The primary contribution of the project can be summarised as
follow:
This project focuses on a particular category of large cities, namely
the so-called “medium-sized cities” with 100,000 to 500,000
inhabitants. Previous studies show that medium-sized cities face
particular challenges because their limited size makes it harder for
them to attract new citizens and economic activity, compared to capital cities and other co-called “metropolises”. Many medium-sized
cities therefore have a relatively poor economic performance; yet,
a number of medium-sized cities perform extremely well. However,
very little is known about why some medium-sized cities stand out
from the crowd, or about what cities can do to promote growth.
•
This report summarises the results of a project initiated by the municipalities of Aalborg, Aarhus and Odense and the North Denmark
Region, the Central Denmark Region and the Region of Southern
Denmark. The aim of the project is to learn about how mediumsized European cities can use their resources more effectively in
order to encourage economic growth – and to investigate whether
intercity collaboration can help support growth.
The report presents the results of the project in the shape of an
inspiration catalogue, which contains ideas as to how mediumsized cities can promote growth. These ideas have primarily been
identified through case studies of nine European medium-sized
cities that have experienced a positive economic development and
performance in recent years. The idea behind the report is thus to
communicate insights and lessons learned from the project, and to
provide inspiration for growth policies and initiatives in mediumsized cities and their regions.
•
•
The project generates valuable insight into growth initiatives
and economic performance in medium-sized cities, a category
of cities that we know relatively little about.
A good connection and a productive interplay between the
city’s resources, actors and growth initiatives – the combination of which makes up the urban growth system of that city
– is widely held to support city growth. This project identifies
a number of examples of how medium-sized cities aim to promote and strengthen growth by developing a more coherent
growth system.
Moreover, the project shows that cities can encourage growth
through strategic collaboration with other cities. The project
focuses on how cities can interact with their surrounding area
(the functional urban region around a “core” city) and with
other cities through national and international networks. The
project offers valuable insight into the importance of such
collaborations for growth and into how such collaborations
should be organized and managed.
The report takes the form of an inspiration catalogue that communicates ideas, insights and lessons learned about how mediumsized cities like Aalborg, Aarhus and Odense and their city regions
can promote growth and strengthen their position and influence in
the national and international city landscape. As such, the report
is relevant not just for Aalborg, Aarhus and Odense but also for a
broader range of cities.
It is our ambition that this project will make a positive contribution
to the planning and development strategies of the three West Danish cities and contribute to strengthening their intercity collaboration. We hope that the report will also inspire the ongoing work
on the regional development plans in the North Denmark Region,
the Central Denmark Region and the Region of Southern Denmark.
5
1
Introduction
1.1 About the project
This report summarises the results of The City Regions Project,
carried out by DAMVAD and commissioned by the municipalities of
Aalborg, Aarhus and Odense and the North Denmark Region, the
Central Denmark Region and the Region of Southern Denmark.
The project was launched in recognition of the fact that cities are
diverse and perform very differently when it comes to growth.
Some cities exhibit strong economic growth while others struggle
to hold on to citizens and businesses. But how do you create
growth in a city? Many growth policies focus on improving the
conditions for growth in a city by strengthening the resources that
the city’s economic activities are based on. But good preconditions
alone are not sufficient to attain strong economic performance: It
varies widely how well cities perform even though most mediumsized cities have many of the same resources for growth, such
as well-educated citizens, a local business sector, research and
education institutions, a good infrastructure etc.
Moreover, the business and growth strategies of most cities are
relatively similar and contain many of the same elements, e.g.
a focus on building business clusters, strengthening interaction
between industry and knowledge institutions, establishing science
parks, and a focus on growth sectors such as biotech, IT, climate
and/or creative industries. So why are some cities more successful
in creating value from their resources than others?
The key to economic growth is not only having access to resources for growth, but knowing how to make efficient use of these
resources. This raises the central question that is investigated in
this project: How can cities best combine and use their resources in
order to attain growth?
The project focuses on a particular category of cities, that is,
medium-sized cities with 100,000 to 500,000 inhabitants. These
cities are important engines for growth in their region and in
their country. Medium-sized cities such as Aarhus, Aalborg and
Odense differ from metropolises like Copenhagen in their preconditions and opportunities for growth, as it is generally easier for
metropolises to attract businesses and well-educated labour. This
project examines how medium-sized cities seek to overcome these
challenges and make the most of their resources and potential for
economic growth.
The City Regions Project builds on both previous research and
analyses as well as independent analyses carried out during the
course of the project. The heart of the project consists of nine indepth case studies of medium-sized European cities that have have
experienced a positive economic development and performance in
recent years. The purpose of these case studies has been to identify and examine initiatives and projects aimed at strengthening
economic growth, which may therefore inspire growth policies or
initiatives in other medium-sized cities.
The main report summarises the results of the project in an inspiration catalogue that presents a number of ideas as to how mediumsized cities can promote growth and strengthen their position and
influence in the national and international city landscape. Overall,
the project identifies a number of promising opportunities and
inputs to future growth policies and initiatives for the three West
Danish cities and their regions.
1.2 Main results of the project
In order to answer the question of how cities can best combine and
make use of their resources in order to achieve growth, this project
has investigated a wide range of factors that influence the growth
and performance of cities.
The project has especially focused on how cities interact with their
surrounding city region, and on how they collaborate in national
and international networks. The focus on intercity collaboration is
explained by the fact that most growth initiatives launched in a city
involve some degree of collaboration between actors in or outside
the city. The project thus gives valuable insight into the importance
of such collaborations for growth, and into how they can be organized and managed more efficiently.
Among other things, the case studies indicate that the case
7
Introduction
cities are very good at building on existing strengths and thus
making the most of their growth potential. They do this, among
other things, by striving to achieve as much complementarity and
interplay as possible between the resources, actors and growth
initiatives of the city.
Figure 1.1 on the next page presents an overview of the lessons learned from the project and summarises the structure of the report:
•
Chapter 2 presents fundamental insights into the growth of
medium-sized cities, based on the results of previous analyses
and studies. Moreover, the chapter presents key results of
The City Regions Project. Among other things, the analytical
framework of the project is described, as well as main conclusions regarding the importance of interaction and complementarity between resources within the urban growth system,
and the impact of intercity collaboration on city growth.
•
Chapter 3 presents a number of general lessons learned from
the project. These lessons primarily spring from the case
studies, but also from other parts of the project, including the
review of prior studies and analyses of city growth.
•
Chapters 4 and 5 both present lessons learned, focusing on
how cities can encourage or support growth through collaboration within the city region. Chapter 4 focuses on how to
estavlish a good framework for collaboration between actors
and cities in the same region. Chapter 5 takes a closer look at
how this kind of collaboration can be organised and anchored
in order to promote sustainable economic growth. These lessons learned spring primarily from the nine case studies, but
also from other parts of the project.
•
In chapter 6, we shift our focus away from collaboration
within the city region to collaboration across or between city
regions. The chapter presents lessons learned, focusing on
how cities can promote or support growth through intercity
collaboration, and how this kind of collaboration can be organised and anchored. These lessons learned are drawn mostly
from the case studies, but also other parts of the project.
The project also shows that the case cities seek to strengthen their
economic performance through strategic cooperation with other cities, both within and outside the city region. Intercity collaboration
can be a way of working strategically with resources by connecting
resources more effectively within or between cities.
The case studies indicate that intercity collaboration can support
parallel growth among all the partners in a collaboration. Moreover,
such collaboration often lead to other benefits such as knowledge
exchanges and learning between cities, interaction between actors
in the cities, increased coordination of growth policies, and a
strengthened visibility in the urban hierarchy that makes it easier
to attract citizens, businesses and investments.
The project also underlines a point made in previous analyses
of city growth, namely that innovation and renewal occur when
people meet and exchange experiences and ideas. As such, innovation indicates that there is a high level of social capital in the
city. Social capital is valuable because it is through exchanges and
interaction between individuals that knowledge sharing, new ideas
and innovation occur. Strategies for strengthening growth should
therefore aim at creating the best possible conditions (i.e. inspiration, resources and incentives) for interaction and collaboration
among actors.
The overall results of the project are summarized and presented
in this main report, which is structured as an inspiration catalogue
for use by the West Danish cities and regions or by other mediumsized cities. It is, however, important for any city to consider which
lessons are relevant in view of its particular situation and growth
challenges. Cities should also consider how the strategies described in this report may interact with each other if implemented at
the same time, by considering how they might overlap or reinforce
each other, or even cancel each other out.
8
Introduction
Figure 1.1 Overview of lessons learned
Chapter 6: On collaboration
between city regions
Chapter 4 and 5: On collaboration within the city region
Chapter 5: Organizing and
anchoring the collaboration
Lessons learned - about
intercity collaboration
Chapter 4: Establishing good
conditions for collaboration
4.1 Collaboration can create growth in
the entire city region
5.1 Champions are great - bur collaboration must be anchored
4.2 Bring key players together on a
burning platform
5.2 Establish independent organisations
with their own mandates and means
4.3 Clarify and communicate incentives
for collaboration
5.3 Find the right balance between
bottom-up and top-down initiatives
4.4 Define ambitious and long-term
visions and show active leadership
5.4 Strengthen and support growth
initiatives via public involvement
4.5 Create good framework for collaboration
5.5 Support the social infrastructure of
the city region
Lessons learned generally speaking
Chapter 2: Fundamental insights into city growth
6.1 Collaboration can support the region’s
growth and adaptability
6.2 Use knowledge bridges and informal collaboration to encourage
innovation
6.3 Find the right balance between collaboration and competition
6.4 Create a strong, united front through
formal intercity collaboration
6.5 Ensure a professional organisation and
management of the collaboration
6.6 Aktiv ledelse giver større indflydelse
Chapter 3: General lessons learned
2.1 Cities are engines of economic growth
3.1 The cluster perspective does not focus on value creation
2.2 Medium-sized cities have big growth potential
3.2 Focus on business development through related diversification
2.3 Growth is created not within the municipality but within
the city region
3.3 Build niche-based strongholds
2.4 Growth is based on the quality of - end interaction between
- the city’s ressources
3.4 Establish strong platforms for growth and collaboration
2.5 Collaboration between cities create growth
3.5 Work with integrated strategies for growth and city
development
2.6 There is no ”one size fits all” strategy for growth
Source: DAMVAD 2010
9
Introduction
1.3 Knowledge foundations for the project
This report summarises the results of a project that has had an
international focus and approach to generating inspiration for
growth policies and initiatives for the three West Danish cities
and their regions. The project has, among other things, included
insights and inputs from four international experts on city growth.
The project has also been based on an extensive analysis of the
international literature and undertaken original analyses of growth
in European cities.
The City Regions Project consists of five sub-projects that are described in five separate sub-reports (which are available in Danish).
Together, these five sub-projects they form the basis for the results
presented in this main report.
Sub-report 1, A literature study of cities’ preconditions and possibilities for growth, presents an extensive analysis of results
from previous studies of city growth. Thus, this part of the project
provided a solid knowledge foundation for the project as a whole.
Moreover, it generated important inputs to the development of the
analytical framework in the project and to the identification of data
sources and indicators used in later parts of the project.
Sub-report 2, The analytical framework of the project, draws an
overview of central preconditions for and drivers of city growth.
The aim of this part of the project was to develop a framework,
which is easy to operationalize, so that it could function as the underlying framework in each of the subsequent parts of the project.
Sub-report 3, A screening of approximately 100 European cities,
presents the results of an analysis of 95 European cities’ economic
performance and development. The aim of this screening was to
undertake an overarching analysis of these cities’ position within
their national urban system and of their economic performance
and development, to strengthen the empirical basis for subsequent
parts of the project.
The analysis took as its starting point the three West Danish cities
10
as well as comparable cities in six other countries: Norway, Sweden,
Finland, Holland, Germany and England. The 95 cities were chosen
on the basis of their size and the availability of internationally
comparable data on the city.
The screening included data on the cities’ ability to generate economic value, their recent economic development, the development
of the population, the educational level of the workforce, commuting patterns, the city’s ability to attract labour from abroad, as
well as the unemployment rate.
The results of the screening draw a picture of the growth and
performance of medium-sized European cities that put the performance of the three cities of Western Denmark into perspective.
These results also formed the basis of the subsequent selection
of case cities. Based on data from the screening, nine cities were
chosen for in-depth analysis. The primary criterion was a good economic performance and an average or above average growth over
the last decade, compared with similar cities in the same country.
Moreover, the cities had to have a relative size and position within
their national urban hierarchy that was comparable to those of the
three West Danish cities. This additional criterion was included to
ensure that the cities could provide lessons and inspiration that is
relevant for the Danish cities. As a result, potential candidates for
case cities were excluded if they had significant, special preconditions for growth that are difficult or impossible for other cities
to emulate or compensate for (e.g. if their economic growth was
primarily based on an oil economy).
Through this process, which is described in more detail in Subreport 4, the following nine cities were chosen for in-depth case
studies: Gothenburg (Sweden), Turku (Finland), Eindhoven and Groningen (The Netherlands), Nottingham and Manchester (England),
and Saarbrücken, Freiburg and Karlsruhe (Germany).
Sub-report 4, Quantitative city profiles of 12 European cities, presents in-depth quantitative profiles of the three West Danish cities
and the nine European case cities.
Introduction
The city profiles are based on international data on city level and
regional level. They include a wide range of indicators of growth,
development and preconditions for growth in the twelve cities. The
aim of the city profiles was to contribute to the knowledge foundation for the nine case studies by identifying the cities’ relative
strength and weaknesses.
Sub-report 5, Case studies of nine European cities: Inspiration for
growth and intercity collaboration, presents the nine in-depth case
studies. The aim of these case studies was to identify initiatives
with the aim of furthering or supporting growth in the cities that
could form the basis for lessons and inspiration for the three West
Danish cities and their city regions.
Originally, it was our intention to use the data gathered for the city
profiles in a comparative analysis of economic performance and
drivers for growth in the three Danish cities and the nine European
case studies. The analysis of the collected data has however revealed a number of fundamental problems with the available international data on cities and regions, for instance due to differences
in procedures for data collection and data availability across
countries. These problems include a lack of data on city level, poor
representativity and insufficient data coverage for the indicators
that are available, plus a generally insufficient quality of data. In
view of these limitations, it was our assessment that it was not possible to carry out meaningful comparisons across borders.
The project was carried out in cooperation with a project group
commissioned by the municipalities of Aalborg, Aarhus and Odense
and the North Denmark Region, the Central Denmark Region and
the Region of Southern Denmark, as well as four experts of city
growth and development.
However, the available data do enable us to carry out analyses of
the cities’ performance and preconditions for growth relative to
other cities in the same country. The project confirms the results
of previous studies, which show that the preconditions for growth
of economically strong cities are not necessarily very different
than for other cities. This becomes apparent in the screening of 95
European cities presented in Sub-report 3, but also in the closer
quantitative analysis of twelve medium-sized cities describes in
Sub-report 4: There are no special resources or preconditions that
differentiate the cities that are economically strong from other
cities. So economic growth in our case cities is not the result of
inimitable, favourable conditions for growth.
In particular, Associate Professor Mark Lorenzen, Copenhagen
Business School, has contributed to the shaping of the project,
workshops and discussions of the results and conclusions of the
project.
Moreover, three experts from the United Kingdom have made valuable contributions to the design of the project and its analytical
framework, and to workshops held in connection with the project:
•
Paul Hildreth, Visiting Policy Fellow at The Centre for
Sustainable Urban and Regional Futures (SURF), Salford
University
•
Naomi Clayton, Senior Researcher, The Work Foundation
•
Lena Tochtermann, Analyst, Centre for Cities.
On the contrary, the case studies indicate that the positive
performance of the nine cities is the result of effective, long-term
investments that build on the particular strengths, resources and
growth potential of each city.
11
2
On cities and their
growth potential
2.1 Cities are growth engines for the
economy
Cities are key engines of economic growth in the regional,
national as well as international economy. By creating
gathering places for labour, business and investments,
cities supply the framework for innovation and economic
development. However, not all cities are equally skilled at
exploiting this framework. As a result, there are large differences in their economic performance.
Cities play a central role in the knowledge economy because they
are home to universities, well-educated labour and knowledgeintensive businesses, as well as to capital and public authorities.
Numerous analyses show that cities are important for economic
growth because they offer a good framework for economic development by providing gathering places for people, business and economic activity1. For example, people move to cities because they give
access to a large variety of jobs, shopping options, and cultural and
leisure activities, as well as a diversity that helps attract qualified
labour to cities.
At the same time, cities’ concentration of labour, knowledge
institutions, authorities and infrastructural hubs such as airports
and railway stations are attractive features for companies and for
educational institutions.
They differ, however, in their ability to exploit this capability. As
a result, there is a high degree of variation in cities’ economic
performance.
A city that performs well is a city with sustainable economic
growth. Economic growth indicates that a city is well-functioning,
as growth is both a consequence of and a catalyst for growth in
other important parameters such as innovation or growth in the
business sector, in welfare, in education and in culture. Economic
growth and innovation alone are not enough, however, to characterise a city as successful. For that, it is essential that the foundation
of the city’s growth is sustainable, that is, that it cannot be easily
eroded. In a global economy, where people, businesses and economic activity can easily move to a more attractive base, competitive
advantages can quickly be reduced or disappear. Cities are thus
vulnerable to the international development of capital flows, the
development of other cities, and citizens’ demand of their work life
and social life.
A well-functioning city is therefore a city that knows how to adapt
to possibilities and challenges in the global knowledge economy,
and whose performance builds on sustainable competitive advantages. This means that the growth strategies of cities ought to
be long-term and take the development of the global knowledge
economy into consideration.
The importance of cities is underlined by the fact that their job
creation, growth and productivity are typically higher than for the
rest of the country. Much innovation springs from cities because
they supply gathering places where businesses, scientists and
entrepreneurs can form networks and exchange and develop new
ideas. Cities also attract investors with venture capital, which is
necessary in order to realise new ideas and thereby spur renewal
and innovation.
Cities thus supply the best framework for economic development.
1 See e.g. Van den Berg & Van Winden. (2004). Cities in the knowledge economy. Report to the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations; OECD. (2001).
Cities and Regions in the New Learning Economy; OECD. (2006). Competitive
Cities in the Global Economy.
13
On cities and their growth potential
2.2 Medium-sized cities have big growth
potential
Medium-sized cities in particular have considerable growth
potential, but we need more knowledge on how possibilities and challenges of growth in medium-sized cities differ
from the preconditions for growth in capitals and other
metropolises.
Medium-sized cities with good economic performance are
not necessarily characterised by having easier or better
access to valuable resources than other cities. They do
however appear to be very good at making the most of
the growth potential that they do have, for example by
ensuring the highest possible degree of complementarity
and interplay between the city’s resources, and by supporting growth initiatives through strategic cooperation with
other cities both within and outside their region.
Because of cities’ importance for economic growth, there are
many studies, analyses and reports on cities and on how to create
the best possible conditions for city growth. However, most of
these analyses focus on “metropolises”, that is, capitals and other
cities with millions of inhabitants. But the major part of the global
population and economic activity is found in medium-sized cities,
not metropolises. The medium-sized cities are fully functional cities
with a population of less than 500,000 in the core city. In a Danish
context, Aalborg, Aarhus and Odense can thus be characterised as
medium-sized cities, while Copenhagen can be characterised as a
metropolis.
Metropolises generally attract more businesses, public authorities,
knowledge institutions and highly skilled labour. They are, however,
also characterised by higher living and business expenses. Mediumsized cities, on the other hand, offer many of the same advantages
as metropolises (although on a smaller scale), which makes them
attractive to businesses, workers and students. Moreover, it is
generally cheaper to live and do business in medium-sized cities,
where you can get the benefits of living in a city but at a lower
cost.2
14
Medium-sized cities also benefit from an increasing political and
economic influence on regional and national growth, as there is a
tendency towards moving the responsibility for regional and local
development from the national level to regional and local authorities.
In the last decade, a growing recognition of the economic importance of medium-sized cities has led to an increased focus on these
cities and their growth. While we know a lot about metropolises,
we lack similar insight into the preconditions and potential for
growth in medium-sized cities. There is therefore an urgent need to
increase our knowledge of the particular challenges and possibilities for growth faced by medium-sized cities, and that is exactly the
purpose of The City Regions Project.
Medium-sized cities can be defined in two ways. The first is by population. A medium-sized city is often defined as a city with approximately 100,000 to 500,000 inhabitants. However, medium-sized
cities can also be defined according to their position in the national
urban hierarchy. In all countries, there is a network of cities, a
so-called “hierarchy” of cities, which is more or less defined by the
relative size of each city and its influence on the national economy.
For example: Based on its population, Aarhus is comparable to
the British city of Leicester, as both cities have a population of
approximately 300,000. Based on its position in the national
hierarchy, however, it makes more sense to compare Aarhus with a
city like Manchester, even though the population of Manchester is
significantly larger. This second approach is particularly interesting
because previous analyses show that a city’s position in the national urban hierarchy is often a more important determinant of its
growth potential than its size relative to cities in other countries.
As described previously, cities have good preconditions for attracting economic activity. But economic growth does not happen
by itself. For instance, previous analyses show that a city’s size
matters: metropolises generally perform well because their size
alone is enough to attract citizens, businesses and economic
activity. In contrast, small towns are generally characterised by a
2 Clayton & Morris. (2010). Recession, recovery and medium-sized cities.
Report from The Work Foundation.
On cities and their growth potential
relatively weak economic performance as there is a natural limit to
how much economic activity they can attract and generate. Thus,
the size of cities and their economic performance can be said to be
proportional.
This tendency does, not however, hold for medium-sized cities, as
illustrated by figure 2.1: Previous analyses show that some mediumsized cities perform far better than one would expect from their
size, while others perform far more poorly than expected. 3
The bad news is thus that medium-sized cities face special challenges compared with metropolises that do not have to work so hard
to attract business and labour. Meanwhile, the good news is that
the much higher degree of variation in the economic performance
of medium-sized cities shows that there is a considerable growth
potential in medium-sized cities. But how do medium-sized cities
attain above average economic performance?
Figur 2.1. The relationship between cities’ economic performance
and size
The city’s economic
performance
Strong
performance
Weak
performance
The size of
the city
Small cities
Medium-sized cities
The City Regions Project explores what characterises medium-sized
cities with strong (as in above average) economic performance.
The project confirms results from previous analyses, which show
that the preconditions for growth of economically strong cities are
not necessarily different from those of other cities. Being “above
average” is therefore extremely important.
Most medium-sized cities share similar preconditions for growth:
well-educated citizens, a business sector, one or more research
institutions and science parks, a well-functioning infrastructure etc.
So why are some cities capable of creating more value from these
resources than others? Previous analyses show that some cities
are particularly good at making the most of their growth potential by combining their resources more effectively. This project
generates a number of examples of how cities strive to do this by
maximizing the complementarity and interplay between the city’s
resources, and by supporting growth initiatives through strategic
collaboration with other cities. This is described in more detail in
the subsequent chapters of this report.
Metropolises
Source: DAMVAD 2010. N.B. The figure is not based on empirical data. For an
empirical basis for the figure, see Lorenzen & Andersen. (2009). Centrality and
Creativity: Does Richard Florida’s Creative Class Offer New Insights Into Urban
Hierarchy? Economic Geography, 85(4): 363-390.
3 See e.g. Lorenzen & Andersen. (2009). Centrality and Creativity: Does Richard Florida’s Creative Class Offer New Insights Into Urban Hierarchy? Economic
Geography, 85(4): 363-390.
15
On cities and their growth potential
2.3 Growth is created not within the
municipality but within the city region
Economic growth is not created within the administrative
boundaries of a city, but within the functional city region,
defined as the area around a core city that shares living
spaces, jobs and services with the city. This implies that
growth policy and initiatives should consider not just the
core city, but the city region as a whole.
In our definition of a city we not only include the central municipality that gives the city area its name, but also the immediate
surroundings that border on the city and exchange living spaces,
jobs and services with the city. This area is called a city region. City
regions are also called “functional urban areas” because they often draw a more accurate picture of a city than the administrative
borders of the core municipality. People do not limit their activities
to the geographic borders of a city; they live, work, shop and use
the cultural and leisure activities on offer within a larger geographic area around the city they live in or close to. Likewise, businesses choose their location and their partners without looking at the
administrative borders of the city.
Figure 2.2: The city region
The city region
City
city
City
Core city
City
Source: DAMVAD 2010
16
The functional city is thus defined by how people live and work, and
how the economy works between a core city and its surroundings.
The city region can include independent cities as well as rural areas
and suburbs.
The city region’s importance for city growth implies that growth
policies and initiatives must be take the city region – and not just
the core city – into consideration.
2.4 Growth is based on the quality of – and
interaction between – the city’s resources
A city’s growth potential is either supported or stunted
by the resources that are available to it. These include
the city’s industry base and knowledge base, but also its
access to highly skilled labour (“talent”) and the general
conditions for growth in the city (e.g. its growth policy,
business climate, and infrastructure). The quality of the
city’s urban growth system – that is, the sum of its resources – depends on how well the city’s resources complement
and interact with each other.
The economic performance and growth potential of cities is based
on the preconditions for growth that is available to the city, meaning primarily the city’s resources. A city does not grow by itself:
Its performance and position relative to other cities is to a large
extent based on the resources available to the city as well as the
quality and degree of complementarity between these resources.
These resources include the businesses and knowledge institutions
located in the city, but also other important resources such as
human capital (“talent”), financial capital, social capital and the
infrastructure in the city.
The combination of resources is important and can form the basis
of sustainable competitive advantages. For instance, it does not
create value to have many entrepreneurs with good business ideas,
if these entrepreneurs do not have access to financial capital in
the shape of venture and start-up capital with which to realise
those ideas. Likewise, a concentration of well-educated citizens
is less valuable if there is not also a high degree of social capital,
On cities and their growth potential
that is, relationships and trust between individuals that make them
exchange ideas and knowledge and cooperate with each other.
In this project, we distinguish between four categories of resouces:
The industry base refers to the city’s businesses, that is, the
main engine of economic growth in the city. This resource
includes the city’s performance, measured by productivity and
value added and its business structure (i.e. the number and
size of companies in the city). Here it is also relevant to consider the degree of specialization of the city’s industry, meaning
which sectors companies are located in. Last, but not least,
it is interesting to look at the inflow of new business through
entrepreneurship and new firm formation.
•
The knowledge base refers to the city’s knowledge foundation, that is, its research and educational institutions. In this
context, it is also interesting to see which areas the city has
specialised in. It is also relevant to look at the degree of internationalisation of research and education, e.g. in international
research collaboration and in the exchange and recruitment of
scientists and students. Last, but not least, this resource also
includes the research and educational institutions’ orientation
towards and collaboration with industry.
•
Talent refers to the city’s citizens and labour. In this context,
it is interesting to look at the demography and employment
of the city (e.g. the age distribution, and work places for
the city’s inhabitants). Human capital covers the qualifications and educational level of the labour force, while social
capital refers to the presence of trust and personal networks
between. Moreover, it is relevant to look at the city’s ability to
attract and retain labour, including the sought-after creative
class, that is, knowledge workers whose primary job function
is to innovate. 4
4 See e.g. Lorenzen & Andersen. (2008). Den Danske Kreative Klasse: Hvem
består den af? Hvor bor den? Hvad betyder den for det danske samfund? Aarhus:
Klim.
•
The framework conditions cover the general conditions for
growth in the city and thus include national, regional and local
policies, e.g. focusing on growth, business development and
innovation. The framework also includes the quality of the
general business environment and the quality of life that the
city can offer. Last, but not least, it is relevant to look at the
city’s infrastructure, including the quality and price of public
transportation, but also the city’s accessibility by plane, car
and train from the city region, other cities and from abroad.
17
On cities and their growth potential
All these resources are important to the city’s economic performance and are therefore relevant to work with in order to promote
growth, either to ease the city’s challenges or to further strengthen
a good economic performance.
As the full value of a resource is only realised when it is brought
into play in a productive interaction with other resources, it is,
however, important to assess these resources in the context of
the city’s urban growth system, that is, the city’s overall set of
resources. The productivity of the growth system depends on two
things. Firstly, it depends on how complementary the resources are,
that is, how well they support each other. Secondly, it depends on
the level of interaction between complementary resources, that is,
how much and how efficiently these resources interact in order to
unleash growth potential. The key to growth in a city does not, therefore, lie in the resources available to the city as much as it lies in
how these resources are managed and relate to each other. Later in
this report we look at a number of examples of how medium-sized
cities in other European countries seek to strengthen their econo-
mic performance by creating connections and interaction between
their business sector, their knowledge base, their labour force, and
the general framework conditions for growth in the city.
It is relevant to point out that certain resources are more expensive to build than others. For example, educational and research
institutions require large public investments, while others (such as
grassroots, and many culture and leisure activities) are relatively
inexpensive investments for the municipality.
In addition, some resources take a very long time to build up or
lose, while others are fast. This is also related to the fact that some
resources are more mobile than others. For instance, labour is by
far the most mobile resource and can therefore be attracted (or
eroded) the most easily.
The most risky public investments are of course investments in
expensive resources that take a long time to build, but which may
be quickly eroded.
Figure 2.3: The city’s resources and the urban growth system
The city’s growth system
Degree of complementarity between the city’s ressources
Degree of interplay between the city’s ressources
The industry base
The knowledge base
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Productivity and value added
Industry structure (size and scope of firms)
Specialization (sectors, technologies etc.)
Entrepreneurship and new firm formation
Research institutions
Educational institutions
Internationalization of research and education
Orientation toward/collaboration with industry
The talent base
Framework conditions
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Demographics and employment
Human capital
Social capital
Attraction and retention of labor
National, regional and local policy
The business environment
The livingg environment and quality of life
Infrastructure
Source: DAMVAD 2010
18
On cities and their growth potential
2.5 Intercity collaboration creates growth
Cities can enter into more or less formalised collaborations with other cities. Formal intercity collaborations might
for instance focus on strengthening the business sector,
carrying out joint research and education initiatives,
strengthening infrastructure or attracting highly skilled
labour or cultural events. Moreover, cities can cooperate
on marketing or on political lobbying in order to strengthen their national or international visibility, bargaining
position or access to capital.
The case studies indicate that cities that do well are also
good at cooperating with other cities, both within and
outside their city region. These collaborations can support
and increase growth for all involved. But intercity collaborations do not automatically lead to benefits. In subsequent chapters, we will therefore take a look at factors
that affect the impact of intercity collaboration on city
growth.
Cities do not exist in isolation. As previously mentioned, they are
a part of a national and international urban hierarchy. The whole
network of cities is said to constitute an urban system. Within this
system, cities can interact with each other to a smaller or larger
extent. Interaction between cities can, among other things, occur
through interaction between individuals, businesses and knowledge
institutions, or among city councils.
In The City Regions Project we raise the question: How important
are intercity collaborations for the growth potential of cities and
their position in the urban hierarchy? Medium-sized cities compete
with each other and with metropolises in order to attract labour,
businesses and financial capital. However, the results of this project
indicate that collaboration between cities is a more efficient means
of achieving growth than competition is.
19
On cities and their growth potential
For instance, the case studies indicate that growth in a city region
can be strengthened through cooperation with other cities. The
economic performance of cities is thus not only influenced by
the degree of complementarity and interplay between the city’s
resources, but also by how effectively the city cooperates with
other cities.
Intercity collaboration can either be informal (such as networking
and exchange of experiences) or formal. Examples of formal collaboration in the case studies can be seen in Box 2.1.
Box 2.1.
Examples of types of formal intercity collaboration
• Business: Cooperating on attracting businesses or creating more coherence between related sectors in order to
strengthen the whole business sector
• Research and education: Cooperating on research in
selected fields or on offering educations
• Talent: Cooperating on attracting talent or strengthening
the mobility of labour between cities
• Infrastructure: Cooperating developing infrastructure
• Culture: Cooperating on attracting and implementing
high-profile cultural and sporting events
• Marketing: Joint marketing and city branding
• Political: Joint political lobbying and applying of funds
for financing growth initiatives, explorative projects and/
or intercity collaboration
20
In addition to distinguishing between formal and informal collaboration, we also (cf. figure 2.4) distinguish between two kinds
of city collaboration: Collaboration within the city region (which
we will take a closer look at in Chapters 4 and 5) and collaboration
between city regions (which is the focus of Chapter 6).
On cities and their growth potential
Figure 2.4: General types of intercity collaboration
Informal collaboration
Formal collaboration
Collaboration within the city region
Knowledge exchange, network formation,
labor market links etc.
Joint growth ventures, infrastructure
development, joint lobbying etc.
Collaboration across city regions
Twin cities, knowledge exchange,
network formation etc.
Joint (inter)national lobbying and
growth or innovation ventures
Source: DAMVAD 2010
2.6 There is no “one size fits all” strategy
for growth
There is no standard recipe for growth that fits all cities.
In order to attain an above-average economic performance, a city’s growth policy must therefore take into account
that particular city’s strengths and weaknesses, which – to
a large extent – are historically determined.
Cities have different paths to growth, as there is no standard
solution for how to generate growth. Even though cities have many
of the same fundamental resources and engage in various types of
intercity collaboration, this is by no means sufficient to explain why
one city performs better than the other. To realise the growth potential of medium-sized cities, the cities must succeed in bringing
their resources, growth system and city collaborations into play in
a productive manner. Previous studies show that cities can change,
even dramatically, but that they develop but slowly, and that their
development can be hampered by the city’s historic development,
challenges and positions of strength.
5 Hildreth (2007). Understanding medium-sized cities. Town and Country
Planning May 2007.
This historic anchoring is also called path dependence, because
new roads to growth and development to some extent always
spring from the existing structures, competencies, actors and
institutions of a city.
Path dependence does not mean that a city cannot develop significantly over time, but it means that this development will be gradual
and must take into consideration the special strengths and weaknesses of the city, as well as how its history affects its potential for
creating sustainable economic growth. 5
In order to stimulate above-average growth, a city therefore has to
base its growth policies and initiatives on a well-founded analysis
of its particular challenges and opportunities for growth.
21
3
From clusters to related diversification and
integrated growth policies
This chapter presents a number of general lessons learned from
The City Regions Project. These lessons learned spring primarily
from the case studies, but also from other parts of the project,
including the evaluation of existing studies and analyses of city
growth.
3.1 The cluster perspective does not focus
on value creation
Many cities attempt to create dynamic, knowledge-based
business clusters that will strengthen their exposure and
economic performance and thus contribute to putting
their particular city on the map. But these attempts to
create successful business clusters fail more often than
not. Why?
Business clusters can indeed be important drivers of
growth, but it is difficult to establish a successful cluster.
A problem for many major cluster investments is that they
focus on achieving a geographic concentration of businesses and establishing a physical infrastructure (such as
joint office buildings or a science park), but overlook the
importance of also establishing a good social infrastructure. The source of innovation and growth in a cluster is not
the geographic concentration of businesses and knowledge
institutions, but the productive interaction between organisations and individuals, which is merely facilitated by the
concentration.
Moreover, many clusters are built around the same generic
technology or business sectors, such as biotech, ICT or
energy. This makes it difficult for a city to differentiate or
promote itself in the face of competing cities and clusters.
The point is not to discourage cities from investing in
clusters, but that cluster investments and other business
investments make more sense and are more efficient
if they (1) build on existing strongholds of the city, (2)
identify attractive niches that can help to differentiate
the cluster from competing cluster, and (3) build effective
meeting places for the actors within the cluster and within
the city in order to promote the development of good
social infrastructure.
The last few decades have seen a strong focus on business clusters,
based on the idea that growth can be stimulated by building business clusters, that is, geographic concentrations of businesses that
work within the same technological field or sector and thus stand
to benefit from each other’s experiences and from cooperating with
each other. Clusters can also promote interaction with knowledge
institutions close to or in the cluster. At the same time, this kind
of concentration of companies can attract specialised labour
that all the organisations of the cluster can benefit from, as well
as subcontractors or service suppliers for the companies of the
cluster. A successful cluster can thus further business development
and attract both companies and talent to the city where the cluster
is located.
Stories of a few but extremely successful clusters have inspired
many cities to invest in clusters of their own. As a result, almost all
cities now point to one or more business clusters as the cornerstone of their growth policy, but the truth is that most major cluster
investments are not particularly successful. Very few of these
clusters end up creating significant value for the city.
What is the cause of the limited success of many business clusters?
Firstly, a number of fundamental conditions must be in place before
a business cluster can be called successful, including for instance
a good business environment, R&D, the presence of research and
business actors, a well-functioning physical infrastructure, access
to venture capital, access to highly skilled labour, access to support
functions such as business services etc. Secondly, it is difficult
to establish and maintain a well-functioning cluster because it is
dependent on a complex interplay between a long list of factors,
including the business climate of the city, its infrastructure, the
specialisation and productivity of the existing business sector and
academic environment etc.
A business cluster is therefore much more than a geographic
concentration of business. It is about having the right companies in
the right combination at the right place and time. Business clusters
are only an asset for the city if they significantly increase the eco-
23
From clusters to related diversification and integrated growth policies
nomic performance compared to the performance, which is likely to
have been attained in the absence of the cluster.
A cluster investment therefore risks shifting the attention of a
city towards initiatives that do not necessarily create value or
promote growth, for instance by gathering related businesses and
research institutions within the same field. Moreover, such cluster
investments often focus on one of a handful of generic sectors and
technology areas that everybody wants to be successful in, such as
ICT, biotech, sustainable energy and creative/cultural sectors. This
makes it hard for the city to rise above rival cities and clusters.
The results of project indicate that successful growth initiatives often build on joint platforms for business development and cooperation rather than specific cluster investments. Moreover, successful
initiatives typically focus on niches rather than generic technology
and business fields. These points are explained in further detail
later in this chapter.
A key risk connected to cluster investments is that they focus on
establishing a physical infrastructure, but forget the social infrastructure. Physical infrastructure established in order to further
interaction between actors (such as joint facilities and city spaces,
business areas or research parks) rarely has the desired effect. The
problem arises for instance if more facilities are established than
are actually needed, or if too little consideration has been given
to the development of these facilities so that they do not meet the
needs and wishes of the business sector. Often, it is also a problem
that the physical facilities simply do not provide an optimal
environment for interaction between individuals, companies and
knowledge institutions.
Even with the right actors in place, and when there is a sufficient
number of them to make up a critical mass, this does not automatically mean that they will interact. As mentioned previously,
growth does not spring from the concentration of actors, but from
the quality and character of the interaction that arises between
24
companies, knowledge institutions and authorities. It is through interaction among individuals – across organisations – that knowledge
exchange, new ideas and innovations arise.
A successful cluster thus requires a well-functioning social infrastructure, that is, strong personal relations and shared interests
across organisations, which enable an open and trusting exchange
of knowledge and ideas. The primary contribution of the physical
concentration and proximity is that it facilitates or supports this
interaction. But the establishment of a well-functioning interaction between actors is dependent on many other things, such as
whether the actors have adequate incentives and shared interests
to be open to knowledge-sharing and cooperation, whether they
trust each other, and whether they have good meeting places to
form networks and interact in.
The main point of this chapter is not to discourage cities from
investing in clusters, but that cluster investments make the most
sense and are most efficient if they build on existing strongholds
of the city, if they focus on niches that can help the city stand out
from other cities, and if they establish gathering places for the
city’s actors to help develop the social infrastructure.
From clusters to related diversification and integrated growth policies
3.2 Focus on business development
through related diversification
The most efficient road to innovation is through related
diversification, whereby new investments focus on areas
that build on the city’s existing strengths. This will enable
the city to expand its future growth potential while also
maintaining and expanding the basis of its existing economic performance.
As described in the above, the growth potential of cities is influenced by their historic development and strongholds. This does not
mean that a city cannot change its preconditions for growth, but
only that there are limits to how much and how quickly a city can
adapt. This is due to the fact that you not only have to adapt the
resources of the city (for instance the types of companies, focus of
research and educations, the quality of labour, municipal business
service etc.), but also form new connections among these resources.
It is easier for metropolises to initiate an investment within for
instance biotech or ICT and attract funds, research institutions and
businesses. Medium-sized cities, not being natural magnets for
businesses and talent, have to adopt other approaches to growth.
Here, the quickest and most efficient road to recognition is through
related diversification, meaning that the city diversifies or expands
its focus areas, but within areas related to and building on its
existing strengths. This will enable the city to expand its growth
potential while simultaneously maintaining and building on the
sources of its past and current economic performance.
A successful example of related diversification comes from
Eindhoven, which during the last two decades has built a
position of strength within research and technology-based
sectors. However, the city wanted a broader foundation for
growth and was particularly interested in riding on the wave of
interest and activity in the field of creative sectors. Eindhoven
therefore chose to initiate an investment in industrial design as
this enabled the city to build on existing competencies within
engineering, technical design and product development, while
simultaneously building a complementary competence in the
field of design.
As a result of this investment, the design area experiences
a positive development in the city, which is reflected in new
initiatives within research and education of a new, specialised
workforce at design institutions such as Design Academy and
Phillips Design. The share of entrepreneurs in the field of design in Eindhoven is also higher than for other sectors. Network
initiatives between designers and technological businesses also
help provide good meeting places for design companies.
Turku is an example of a city that has built on existing
strengths in order to establish a strong biotechnological business cluster. A recession in the 1990’s forced the city to explore
new paths to economic development and motivated a strong
interest in investing in new sectors and in strengthening the
interaction between the local business sector and knowledge
institutions. The investment paid off, because it built partly on
a broad and effective collaboration between actors in the city
region (motivated in large part by a widespread recognition
of the need to renew the foundation for economic growth in
the city), and partly on a strong academic environment as well
as an existing concentration of businesses in the field of drug
development and diagnostics. The basis of the business cluster
and for the collaboration was thus already in place, which helps
explain the success of the cluster investment.
Nottingham is an example of a city with a strong national
position in the creative sectors, which builds on a strong textile
industry in the 20th century. At this time, Nottingham’s “Lace
Market” was at the centre of the city’s international trading
with machine-produced lace and other textiles. The recipe of
Nottingham’s position today as a national hub for creative
industries is based on this historic position of strength as
well as on an extensive urban development effort in the old
“Lace Market”. Today, you will find many of the city’s creative
companies here, as well as New College Nottingham’s School of
Art, Design and Media. Moreover, Nottingham has entered into
a collaboration with two other main cities of the region, Derby
and Leicester, on supporting creative businesses.
25
From clusters to related diversification and integrated growth policies
3.3 Build niche-based strongholds
There are always certain technology and business fields
that are particularly attractive and which many cities
therefore wish to develop. At this day and age, this goes
for fields such as biotechnology, ICT, green energy as well
as the creative and cultural sectors. Many cities therefore
choose to invest broadly in one or more of these areas.
However, there are two big risks connected with such a
venture. Firstly, it is important to attract the right companies and knowledge environments in order to create the
best basis for interaction, but it is easier to attract actors
with shared interests if you focus on a more specialised
knowledge area than on a broad technological area. Secondly, it is harder for a city to distinguish itself in a broad
technological or business area than in a clearly defined,
niche-based stronghold.
It follows that it is more attractive to build a niche-based
position of strength that will give the city a sharper
profile, as this affords more opportunities to make the city
stand apart from other cities. This will also make it more
feasible to attract specialised businesses, knowledge environments and labour because of the increased relevance
of the city’s research and business sector for their work.
Focused, niche-based positions of strength are thus better
at supporting a coherent development and promoting the
city’s growth system than generic investments.
An example of a generic investment area is “climate and
energy”. A niche-based investment area builds on a more
focused knowledge or business area in which the city already has distinguished itself, for instance “solar energy”.
26
As mentioned above, many cities seek to profile themselves on
broad sectors that are popular with growth and innovation policymakers, such as ICT, biotechnology, sustainable energy and the
creative and cultural sectors. However, the results of this project
indicate that niche-based investments that build on existing knowledge or industry strengths provide a better foundation for growth
than broad investments in generic sectors.
Building a niche-based stronghold means that the city focuses on
specialised rather than generic technological areas or sectors.
As described in the previous section, the building of niche-based
focus areas ought to be carried out through related diversification,
meaning that it builds on existing knowledge, competencies and
resources of the city.
The primary benefit of a niche-based investment rather than a
more general one is that specialisation gives the city a sharper
profile, both nationally and internationally. There are many cities
that focus on biotechnology, so a city that for instance focuses on
bioinformatics or protein-based medicine already has a head start
in trying to set itself apart from the crowd.
This sharper profile might also be an important tool for attracting
more relevant actors to the city. A city known for a niche-based
stronghold in for instance ICT will not attract as broad a number
of businesses, knowledge environments and talent as a city with
a more general ICT profile. However, its higher degree of specialisation will make the city more attractive to talent and businesses
operating within its chosen niche area.
This opens up for a more coherent development of the city’s
growth system. For instance, the city can launch initiatives targeted
toward businesses in the field, develop specialised educations,
focus on attracting highly skilled and specialised labour, attract the
best international researchers in the niche area through conferences or visiting fellowships etc. This kind of coordinated effort will
support a more focused business development and, potentially, the
establishment of a cluster within the niche area.
From clusters to related diversification and integrated growth policies
This does, however, presuppose the ability to identify promising niche areas as well as the will to invest in niche areas where the city
already has existing or at least budding strengths, and which might
enable it to distinguish itself from other cities. In the long run, the
city could also extend the effort to include new but related niche
areas, so that innovation in the city’s growth system will continue
to build on a growing number of existing and related strengths in
the city’s industry and knowledge base.
Niche-based positions of strength can also support the city’s effort
to distinguish itself from other cities, for instance by helping to
target its marketing and branding activities.
Freiburg is known as Germany’s “sunshine city”. This is due
to the fact that Freiburg has a general focus on sustainable
energy, but has chosen to focus – and profile the city – on one
specific source of sustainable energy: solar energy. This focus,
which dates back to the 1980’s, permeates the city’s research
and business sector. Moreover, the municipality has been a
central force in enabling and supporting solar energy in the
city, e.g. by implementing a law that all public buildings must
use solar energy, as well as by focusing on solar energy and
sustainable energy in general in urban renewal and development projects.
This focused investment has enabled Freiburg to become globally recognised as a “best practice example” of the integration
of sustainability in urban development, research and industry.
The city’s focus on solar energy has definitively put it on the
map of sustainable energy sources and has in recent years
enabled it to build on these successes and expand its focus
to include other energy sources and a more general focus on
green energy and sustainability.
Actually, the three German case cities all illustrate the advantage of focused investments: All three cities are both nationally
and internationally known for their “best practice” status in a
specialised knowledge area. While Freiburg sets the standard
for integrating solar energy into research, business and urban
development, Karlsruhe illustrates “best practice” within
integrated infrastructure development, focusing particularly
on the development of public transportation through light rail
technology. Saarbrücken has been hailed by EU as the “best
practice” example in the field of intercity collaboration across
borders, particularly in connection with the city’s QuattroPole
collaboration with Trier, Metz and Luxembourg. All three cities
have managed to use this “best practice” status to develop the
city’s growth system further and in their marketing efforts to
attract investors, collaborators, businesses and talent.
27
From clusters to related diversification and integrated growth policies
3.4 Establish strong platforms for growth
and collaboration
A “platform for growth” is a vision and agenda that brings
relevant actors in a city region together around shared
growth objectives and initiatives. Platforms for growth are
a strategic tool and a communication tool that establishes
a long-term framework for cooperation and development
in the city region. This framework should be based on the
shared interest and needs of the actors, so that it may
benefit from and support the development of the social
infrastructure of the city.
The case studies show that the case cities focus on a number of
platforms for growth that bring relevant actors together around
shared growth targets. Platforms for growth are essentially a vision
that brings actors of the city region together by supplying the
framework for interaction and collaboration, based on the shared
interests of these actors. A platform is thus a strategic tool and
a communication tool that both uses and strengthens the city’s
social infrastructure.
The cities in the case studies illustrate the value of establishing
and communicating ambitious and long-term platforms for growth
that set a shared agenda and assemble key actors around shared
needs and targets, while simultaneously building on existing
strengths in the city.
A city can have more than one platform, as long as all platforms
are supported by the city’s growth system, that is, as long as they
build on the city’s existing resources and strengths.
28
For example, Groningen brings together the city’s actors
around focuses on healthy ageing and wireless information
technology. As a student town, Groningen has also launched a
large investment in order to attract and retain young talent,
under the City of talent initiative. Nottingham has chosen to
focus on the integration of information and communication
technology, especially in public institutions and services. The
aim is to supply better service while simultaneously supporting
business development in the ICT sector. The technology and
knowledge town of Eindhoven has established an organisation
that brings together municipalities and actors across the city
region, headlined Brainport. Brainport is a cross-municipal
collaboration that focuses on furthering growth through talent
and technology development.
Freiburg’s focus on solar energy, as mentioned earlier, is
another example of a shared platform that helps build coherence and strengthen the growth potential of the city’s growth
system. For instance, it is reflected in the research areas
that the knowledge institutions focus on, and in the targeted
recruitment of experts. Moreover, the University of Freiburg has
established a cross-disciplinary research centre for sustainable
energy in order to strengthen problem-orientation as well
as cross-disciplinary interaction between researchers and
industry. The green theme is also reflected in the development
of focused educations that are intended to deliver new, highly
specialised talent for the city.
Moreover, Freiburg has managed to build a strong and competitive business cluster that contains established companies as
well as a number of academic “spin off” companies from the local academic environment. There is an intensive R&D collaboration between the research institutions and the business sector
of the city, which include public-private R&D projects as well as
exchanges of employees between basic and applied research
environments. Moreover, knowledge institutions and businesses
cooperate on education and development of talent, e.g. through
traineeships and student projects. The municipality also plays
an enforcing as well as a supporting role for the green profile
through its business policy and urban development, which is
illustrated, among other things, in its energy legislation, which
focuses on sustainability in urban development, as well as
in the marketing of the city in relation to tourists as well as
businesses and investors.
From clusters to related diversification and integrated growth policies
3.5 Work with integrated strategies for
growth and urban development
Successful growth initiatives are initiatives that build
on and strengthen the connection between resources in
the city’s growth and where focus is shifted from general
growth policies towards more targeted initiatives aimed at
prioritised areas (such as a platform for growth). Integrated strategies for growth also implies collaboration
across municipal departments, among municipalities in the
city region and across the municipal and regional level.
The previous sections have dealt with how cities can create a basis
for sustainable growth by making sure that growth policies and
initiatives build on existing resources and strengths in the city. In
addition, the case studies generally indicate that positive economic
development in cities is linked to integrated growth initiatives. But
what are integrated growth initiatives?
The case studies indicate that successful growth initiatives build
on or strengthen the connection between resources in the city’s
growth system. This emphasises the importance of making sure
that growth initiatives build on existing or at least budding strongholds of the city’s growth system, and that these are supported by
several kind of resources, e.g. in the business sector, the academic
environment, the education system, the labour force and/or the
general framework conditions for growth in the city.
The case studies also show that successful growth initiatives are
based on strategies that span multiple areas and actors involved
in growth policy. Previous studies6 have shown that Danish urban
development policy has gone from focusing on selected sectors to
dealing more with holistic, integrative policies. This trend is a result
of a growing recognition that the challenges of urban development
are related to each other and that the solution to these challenges
should involve all relevant areas and actors.
Andersen & van Kempen. (2003). New trends in urban policies in Europe: evidence
from the Netherlands and Denmark. Cities 20(2): 77-86.
But what does this mean in practice? It means, among other things,
that focus is moved from general growth policies towards more
targeted efforts to improve a certain area, for instance a certain
sector in the business community, a certain neighbourhood or a
shared platform for growth.
It also means that people cooperate on creating more cohesion and
synergy between growth policy initiatives across municipal departments, but also through collaboration between municipalities of
the city region and the municipal and regional level.
The case studies give a number of examples of successful,
integrated problem-solving and urban development that span
social, physical and economic urban development – and departments and organisations. As mentioned before, Freiburg’s
focus on sustainability and green energy is an example of how
a coherent and integrated growth policy in a municipality can
support the city’s development as a whole.
The importance of coordinating across municipal departments
is also seen in Gothenburg, which has established an “international unit” in the municipality that coordinates and oversees all
activities related to the municipality’s international activities,
collaboration and marketing. This facilitates knowledge-sharing
and the coordination of international efforts across municipal
departments, within the framework of an explicit, shared strategy for international activities.
Manchester is a good example of an extensive and long-term
collaboration between the regional and municipal level. Since
1986 there has been a strategic collaboration between ten
cities of the Great Manchester Region, facilitated by the organisation Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA).
The cities collaborate on, among other things, infrastructure
(for instance, they share ownership of Manchester Airport),
innovation and marketing of Greater Manchester. Moreover,
in 2011, AGMA will be transformed into a joint public authority
for the ten cities, thus increasing its possibilities to stimulate
growth across municipalities in the region even further.
29
4
Create good conditions for collaboration
within the city region
This chapter presents a number of lessons learned, focusing on
how cities can promote and support growth through collaboration
within the city region. These lessons spring primarily from the nine
case studies, but also from other parts of the project.
4.1 Collaboration can create growth in
the entire city region
The results of The City Regions Project show that the case cities
strengthen their role in the city landscape by entering into alliances with other cities. However, some of the biggest growth gains of
the case studies have not been reaped through collaboration with
remote cities but with close and long-term collaborations within
the city region.
The nine city cases indicate that successful city collaboration
within the city region has a number of benefits:
•
Coordinated and thus a more efficient growth policy. The case
studies show that collaboration within a city region facilitates
coordinated growth initiatives which in turn increase the efficiency of the regional growth policy. The increased efficiency
is due to the fact that if you coordinate within the city region,
you can avoid superfluous overlapping, learn from each
other’s experiences and knowledge, support each other’s initiatives and launch shared investments that benefit the whole
city region. This emphasises that coordination can support the
growth policy efforts of the city region as a whole, and opens
the door to shared and more ambitious investments that can
benefit the entire region.
•
Parallel growth in the whole city region. Previous analyses7
show that economic collaboration and a certain extent of economic interdependency between core cities and surrounding
cities can strengthen their growth as a whole as well as
individually. This means that collaboration can lead to parallel
growth in all the cities of a region. The case studies show
examples of how growth in the core city can catalyse growth
in the other cities of the region, and how growth in the hinterland can help the economic development of the core city.
•
A joint national and international front. Medium-sized cities
compete not only with each other but also with neighbouring
metropolises to attract businesses and talent. At the same
time, medium-sized cities are often overshadowed by metropolises, for instance in national business and innovation policy
initiatives. The results of this project show that cooperation
can strengthen the visibility and bargaining power of the
whole city region – partly due to the increased visibility, partly
Collaboration within the city region can have a direct
influence on the growth of the whole region. Initiatives in
the core city can contribute to growth in the surrounding
cities, just as initiatives in the surrounding cities can
contribute to growth in the core city.
The most significant growth gains in the case studies of
this project have been attained through close and longterm collaborations within the city region. These gains
include (1) coordination of (and thus a more efficient)
growth policy, (2) parallel growth in the whole city region,
(3) a strong, united front that increases the visibility and
bargaining position of the whole city region both nationally
and internationally, (4) stronger and better anchoring (and
thus more far-reaching effects) of growth policy initiatives, and (5) a more efficient social infrastructure because
relevant actors and individuals come together across the
city region to work on shared agendas and goals.
City collaboration does not automatically lead to growth,
however. The likelihood of achieving shared growth in a
city region is greater if the growth systems of the cities
within the region complement each other, and if the cities
are connected in a way so that people, commodities and
capital can flow easily between them. Moreover, the case
studies point to a number of factors that can increase the
chance of reaping benefits of intercity collaboration. These
factors are presented in this chapter and in Chapter 5.
7 Jones, Clayton, Tochtermann, Hildreth & Marshall. (2009).
City relationships: Economic linkages in Northern city regions.
Report to The Northern Way.
31
Create good conditions for collaboration within the city region
because the city region is stronger when it represents the
collected economic importance and performance of the cities.
The united front can both strengthen the city region nationally and internationally speaking.
•
•
Stronger and broader anchoring of growth policy initiatives.
The case studies of this project also show that collaboration within the city region helps anchor growth initiatives,
thereby strengthening their long-term effects. This is because
collaboration within the city region is not just about collaboration between cities but also collaboration between various
actors in the city, which are brought together because of their
shared interests. The inclusion of a broad range of actors
from the business sector, knowledge institutions, authorities
and citizens help anchor the city’s growth initiatives broadly,
and entice the participants to take ownership of new projects
and initiatives. This ownership can be further strengthened
through the establishment of a more binding collaboration –
a point which will be elaborated later in the report.
A more efficient social infrastructure. Previous studies8 show
that a central force of economic growth and innovation is a
well-functioning interaction between the people that live in
a city and work in its businesses, knowledge institutions and
public institutions. Basically, innovation occurs when people
come together and exchange their experiences and ideas.
This sows the seeds of the projects that are later launched,
whether they are implemented through establishes organisations or citizen-led initiatives. The case studies show that
collaboration within the city region can strengthen the social
infrastructure of the city by creating meeting places for key
actors and bringing them together around relevant themes
and shared interests, which in turn opens up for new growth
possibilities and initiatives.
The City Regions Project thus shows that there are considerable
advantages to be had from collaborating within the city region. But
collaboration is not guaranteed to generate growth or value for the
participants. So what determines whether these potential benefits
are realised or not?
32
8 See e.g. Lorenzen. (2007).
Social Capital and Localized Learning:
Proximity and Place in Technological
and Institutional Dynamics. Urban
Studies 44(4): 799-817.
Intercity collaboration within the city region does not automatically
create value. For example, previous studies9 show that the likelihood of realising value from intercity collaboration is greater when
two preconditions are in place. First, the cities must complement
each other. As mentioned previously, cities are a part of a national
and international city hierarchy. Their role and position in this
hierarchy is determined, among other things, by their size in an
international perspective, their size and importance in the national
city landscape, and their economic performance. A city’s role is
also influenced by the degree to which it complements other cities
in the same region.
A collaboration within a city region could for instance take as its
starting point the fact that some of the cities (typically, but not
always, the core city) are the primary engines of economic activity
that attract businesses and citizens to the region, while other cities
act as attractive local bases for certain parts of the business sector
or for a science park, as suppliers of certain services for the citizens (for instance good schools and shopping facilities), or as attractive living areas for the region’s citizens. Efficient collaboration
within the city region therefore builds on a shared understanding
of what role each individual city plays in the region and seeks to
strengthen and expand these important complementarities further.
The other precondition for efficient intercity collaboration is that
the cities must be connected. Apart from the fact that the collaboration between the cities should be based on an understanding of
how the cities complement each other, it is also important that the
cities are connected. For instance, it should be easy for the citizens
to commute from living areas to work places and to get to daycare
institutions, schools and shops. It should also be easy for businesses to get goods delivered, receive visitors and travel around the
city region. Efficient collaboration within the region therefore
presupposes that the cities are connected in a way that facilitates
interaction between actors.
9 Jones, Clayton, Tochtermann, Hildreth & Marshall. (2009). City relationships: Economic linkages in Northern city regions. Report to The Northern Way.
Create good conditions for collaboration within the city region
4.2 Bring key actors together on a burning
platform
A burning platform often works as a catalyst for collaboration in the city region: Partly because it brings the actors
of the city region together around shared challenges and
interests, and partly because it makes it easier for them
to overcome different interests and find a common ground.
It is therefore important to identify and communicate burning platforms that can bring the actors of the city region
together, for instance around a central challenge for the
city’s future growth.
The case studies reveal that many successful collaborations have a
burning platform as their point of origin. Cities usually do not lack
interest in or intentions to launch promising, growth-promoting
initiatives or collaborations. But in practice they often lag behind
their intentions when it comes to prioritising the planning and
implementation of ambitious investments and collaborations, as
these are always competing for resources and attention with a
number of other activities and areas of responsibility that are often
more urgent on a day to day basis. A burning platform can therefore serve as an important catalyst for growth-promoting initiatives, for example if the city is experiencing an economic recession
or lack of capital, or if it faces other significant challenges that
call for a targeted effort and collaboration across the city’s growth
system.
Moreover, burning platforms bring actors together across the city
region and help facilitate the dialogue between them. By focusing
on important, shared challenges, it becomes easier for the actors
to overcome their individual interests and find a common ground.
The case cities give a number of examples of burning platforms
for collaboration. For example, a general economic recession in
Finland in the 1990’s and a decrease in exports to Russia meant
that the city of Turku came under pressure to find new sources
of growth. Actors in the city got together because of a shared
recognition of the need to develop new, long-term strengths,
and because of a shared wish to strengthen the interaction
between the academic environment and the industy in the city.
As Turku had a good academic environment and an existing
business sector within the development of pharmaceuticals
and diagnostics, a decision was made to focus on biotechnology.
The active leadership of the municipality, combined with a
close collaboration between knowledge institutions, business
sector, the municipality and the region, led to the establishment of a strong biotech business cluster. What also characterises Turku’s biotech cluster is the fact that, unlike many other,
well-functioning biotech clusters, it is based solely on small
and medium-sized businesses – in other words, there are no
large pharmaceutical companies that act as driving forces for
the cluster.
Eindhoven is today a knowledge city recognised for its technological research and business competencies, but this is a
relatively new position. In the 1990’s, the city experienced an
economic recession which, among other things, forced large
businesses and employers in the city region, among them
Philips and DAF, to dramatically downsize their operations. This
impacted their employees as well as hundreds of smaller businesses in the region that acted as sub-suppliers to the large
firms. The city therefore launched a large shared investment
targeted at retaining the big companies in the region while simultaneously strengthening the city’s growth potential through
collaboration among the 21 municipalities in the city region as
well as key actors from the business community.
The crisis led to an awareness of the fact that it was necessary
to cooperate in order to overcome the shared growth challenges. This led public authorities, the industry and the universities to enter into a close “triple helix” collaboration among
leading actors across sectors. Likewise, a long-term strategy
was launched aimed at making the city region’s economy less
vulnerable in the face of economic crises. This strategy focused
33
Create good conditions for collaboration within the city region
on strengthening the industry by improving its innovation competencies and stimulating diversification so that the business
sector would become less dependent on big corporations like
Philips and DAF.
This led, among other things, to the launch of a collaboration
between the 21 municipalities in the city region of Eindhoven in
1993, Samenwerkingsverband Region Eindhoven (SRE). SRE also
established a fund to finance stimulus programs, and an active
effort was made to attract EU funds that would support investments in the city region. The regional stimulus fund meant that
businesses could apply for financing for projects to adapt or
strengthen their business activities. Businesses that collaborated with other firms and/or with knowledge institutions were
moreover rewarded with additional funds, in order to stimulate
cooperation between the city’s actors, thus anchoring growth
initiatives and effects.
Moreover, the success of the SRE collaboration and the
stimulus program led to other initiatives, such as the Horizon
program, which e.g. focused on strengthening industrial innovation, attracting qualified labour and increasing knowledge
sharing in the city. All in all, these initiatives were a strong
contributing factor as the number of businesses and new jobs
increased markedly from 1995 to 2000 and has developed steadily ever since. The collaboration also led to the establishment
of the aforementioned Brainport initiative.
Today, Manchester is known as a flourishing city that has managed to develop from a stagnant industrial city to a knowledge
city characterised by value-creating and broad collaborations
between actors in the city’s growth system. Part of the explanation for this development is that Manchester, because of its
industrial past, was hampered by big economic challenges and
needed to find new roads to growth. Another important catalyst
for the close collaboration within the region dates back to 1995
when an IRA bomb destroyed large parts of Manchester’s city
centre. The subsequent crisis led to an intensive rebuilding and
cooperation within the city that helped lay the groundwork for
Manchester’s subsequent partnerships. Greater Manchester has
managed to gather its resources and ensure that public and
private organisations work together in order to create the best
possible framework for the city’s growth.
34
Moreover, both Manchester and Nottingham, like all other
English cities, have a particular incentive for creating growthpromoting alliances between the actors of the city region as
well as across city regions: English cities only have about 5
percent of the taxes collected in their area at their disposal.
Most development funds for the cities therefore come from
national funds, where the cities apply for means on the basis
of specific projects and initiatives. This provides an incentive
for collaborating across city borders and across sectors, as it
is often easier for broad partnerships to achieve funding from
the national funds than it is for individual cities. This is due to
the fact that partnerships often facilitate more ambitious and
comprehensive investments and help ensure a better anchoring of the initiatives.
However, the case studies also show examples of cities that
have managed to create well-functioning platforms for growth
based on lukewarm rather than burning platforms. Groningen
is an example of a city that did not have a significant burning
platform. Instead, the city took one of its central challenges as
its starting point: As a student and university city, the city attracted many students, but there was a growing concern about
increased competition from other university cities. Moreover,
like many other university cities, Groningen has a hard time
retaining students once they graduate. The municipality therefore chose to bring the city’s actors together around the vision
“City of talent” – a shared focus on building a city on talent.
Similarly, Freiburg’s “green focus” sprung from the fact the
city lacked heavy industry and therefore an engine for growth.
Since the 1960’s, the inhabitants of the city had participated
actively in protests against the building of a nuclear energy
plant, and this had created a strong awareness of environmental and climate-related issues. This meant that a green focus
was a natural vision for the city to adopt, which the municipality supported by showing active leadership and launching
focused and ambitious initiatives in the municipality as well as
among central actors from the academic environment and the
business sector.
Create good conditions for collaboration within the city region
4.3 TClarify and communicate incentives for
collaboration
The case studies indicate that a shared platform for
growth is not enough to establish well-functioning,
sustainable and ambitious collaborations. All the actors
must be able to see obvious benefits of the collaboration –
benefits for themselves and for the city region as a whole.
It is therefore important to identify and communicate
incentives for collaboration already from the very beginning of a collaboration, but also during the course of the
collaboration.
In continuation of the previous lesson about the importance of
burning platforms in order to catalyze collaboration within the
city region, the case studies also more generally indicate that it is
important that all parties see clear and obvious benefits of participating in the collaboration. Interview respondents emphasised the
importance of all parties being able to see what they get out of the
collaboration, and what the potential gains for the city are.
Cities often think of each other as rivals rather than potential
allies. Respondents in several of the case cities therefore point out
that it is especially important to the make the benefits of a collaboration between the core city and the surrounding cities visible. One
respondent emphasised that the core city, as the primary economic
force of the city region, has a responsibility to drive the development of the city region forward, but that it is also dependent on
simultaneous development in the neighbouring cities to support
the growth of the core city.
This type of simultaneous development can for instance be
achieved by coordinating growth-promoting initiatives, developing
complementary industry sectors in the neighbouring cities, establishing good schools and leisure activities for the citizens and their
families, or strengthening the shopping and living spaces in the city
region as a whole.
There is also a natural limitation as to how much development the
neighbouring cities can carry on their own, partly because of their
smaller size, and partly because having a bigger city as your neighbour can sometimes hamper rather than strengthen the growth of
a city – if the proximity is not used strategically and for the benefit
of both parties.
It therefore appears that there are strong incentives for collaboration within the city region for the core city as well as for the neighbouring cities and that these incentives have to be defined and
communicated clearly in order to facilitate efficient collaboration.
Likewise, various kinds of actors (such as businesses, knowledge
institutions and citizen groups) must be able to see the gains of
supporting such collaboration initiatives in their city region.
If the actors are not convinced of the relevance and importance
of participating in a collaboration, they will either pull out and
downscale their investment of time or money. It is thus important
to identify and clarify incentives for collaboration from the very
beginning, but also during the collaboration.
The Brainport collaboration between Eindhoven and twenty
neighbouring cities has been important to Eindhoven City as
well as to the smaller surrounding municipalities. For example,
Brainport has played an important role in the development of a
cluster within the automotive industry in Helmond where, High
Tech Automotive Campus is a key part of a larger investment
in the cluster’s development. Through the Brainport collaboration, the city has managed to convince TNO Automotive, a
knowledge and research centre, to locate there rather than
in another Dutch city. Brainport played a central part in this
decision, because the Brainport collaboration enabled the city
to offer more attractive framework conditions for the knowledge institution. Moreover, Brainport has contributed actively
to the shaping of the Automotive Facility Centre in Helmond, a
grand investment of more than EUR 18 million. The project was
established as a public-private partnership where Brainport
helped secure the public financing in place – from the Ministry
of Economy, the Noord-Brabant province and the SRE collaboration mentioned above. This public funding was a decisive factor
in convincing the private partners that helped establish the
centre to finance half of it.
35
Create good conditions for collaboration within the city region
In Gothenburg, both the core city and the neighbouring cities
have become convinced of the positive effects of collaboration. Business Region Göteborg, an organisation of thirteen
municipalities, has had a big influence on regional business
development. The thirteen municipalities collaborate on the
location of businesses moving to the region, by considering
to the particular characteristics and strengths of the individual municipalities against the needs and wants of incoming
businesses. The municipality works out a recommendation
about where it would be most suitable for the company to open
office, e.g. based on where other similar businesses are already
established. This practice stands in stark contrast to the time
before the establishment of Business Region Göteborg, where
the municipalities competed amongst each other to attract
businesses. The success of Business Region Göteborg has also
meant that other municipalities in the region have indicated
their interest in joining the collaboration.
Manchester has managed to establish an efficient collaboration
between the ten cities of the city region via the AGMA organisation. Respondents explain that the effective collaboration is,
among other things, a result of the fact that there is a broad
understanding among the cities that one city alone cannot
create the critical mass necessary for supplying the businesses
of the region with the best possible access to specialised suppliers, clients and labour, or to supply the inhabitants with access to attractive living areas and a broad variety of job offers.
Moreover, the cities all recognize that Manchester is a global
brand whose development benefits the region as a whole. Last,
but not least, the ambitious program The Manchester Independent Review has supplied analyses of the economic situation of
the city and created an evidence-based foundation for discussing and prioritising joint investments. As one respondent put
it, “There is no point in fighting against ourselves; we have to
collaborate to compete.”
36
When Turku applied to become cultural capital of Europe in 2011,
the neighbouring cities in the South Western part of Finland
worried that the benefits of this would be limited to the core
city. In order to make sure that cities across the region were
included in the planning of the application and associated activities, a number of idea workshops were held in the neighbouring cities of Salo, Pori, Rauma, Parainen, Loimaa, Uusikaupunki,
Mariehamn and Laitila. Moreover, Turku’s application was supported by the cities of the region via a collaborative agreement
headlined Many Faces of Culture. Apart from supporting Turku’s
application, the aim was also to secure a broad regional anchoring of initiatives and effects of the culture capital project.
Create good conditions for collaboration within the city region
4.4 Define ambitious and long-term visions
and show active leadership
The case studies emphasise the importance of defining
long-term and ambitious visions as well as clear goals for
intercity collaborations in order to establish an effective
collaboration. Likewise, the results of the project indicate
that the municipality of the core city has a central role
to play by catalysing and/or facilitating efficient growth
initiatives across the city region, e.g. by getting the
actors together and showing active leadership backed by
strategic and financial commitment to joint projects and
initiatives.
The case studies show that clear visions and goals for intercity
collaboration support a more efficient collaboration. They help
to ensure clear objectives for the collaboration, which gives the
participants a clear sense of direction, while communicating the
aims and expected benefits of the collaboration.
Clear visions also include a prioritisation of potential target and
focus areas, which helps ensure relevance and coherence in the
collaborations and initiatives that are launched, so that the efforts
of the actors are not directed at different things but at a shared
target. This makes it easier to avoid that intercity collaborations
get burdened by all the good intentions of the city but insteas
maintain a clear focus.
A clear vision thus helps strengthen the strategic coherence of the
city’s growth-promoting initiatives and the connection between
the actors’ efforts – on the basis of a shared understanding of the
aims of the initiatives. However, good visions and targets must be
backed up by clear and well-defined strategies that build on factual
insight into the challenges and opportunities of the city, and a
collaborative preparatory process that involves key actors in the
identification of joint goals and targets from Day 1.
In Groningen, a number of actors in the municipality of Groningen and the three universities of the city – Hanze University,
Groningen University and University Medical Centre Groningen
– have formulated a strategy known as the Groningen Agreement. This strategy is to ensure that the city’s strong position
as a university town is maintained, and it is also intended to
support the continued development in the city and the surrounding region. The Groningen Agreement includes specific
initiatives, e.g. the establishment of student housing that will
strengthen the attractiveness of the city to students. Moreover, the strategy contains a number of related visions – for
instance, a focus on healthy ageing, as a platform for growth in
the city region – that are supported by concrete initiatives by
local actors.
The Brainport initiative in Eindhoven has also been organised
based on a clear and well-defined strategy set out in Brainport
Navigator 2013, which describes a number of specific initiatives
intended to sharpen the region’s profile and competitiveness.
The strategy has been worked out in dialogue between a broad
range of actors from the business sector, knowledge institutions and public authorities. This has ensured a matching of
expectations and contributed to a stronger sense of ownership
among the stakeholders who, according to one respondent, see
themselves as “owners of a shared problem”. In practice, this
means that there is a broad involvement of key actors in the
projects and initiatives defined in Brainport Navigator 2013.
In Manchester, the city, the region and the national organisation NESTA have established a joint fund, Manchester Innovation
Investment Fund, with a budget of £ 7 million over three years.
The aim of the foundation is to finance experiments with new
kinds of innovation that can support and expand Manchester’s
“Innovation Ecosystem” and thus contribute to attracting
talents and capital to the city as well as support networking,
collaboration, creativity and culture, policy development and
the physical infrastructure of the city. The foundation has
supported twenty-five pilot projects that have all been aimed
37
Create good conditions for collaboration within the city region
at designing and testing new ways of innovating and have dealt
with a broad range of topics such as energy demonstration
projects, strengthening citizens’ access to knowledge through
“open access”, retaining students, strengthening the interaction between medical research and clinical practice etc.
The case studies also show that the municipality of the core city
can play a central role by catalysing and supporting efficient
growth initiatives across the city region by taking active leadership.
This leadership must include taking the first steps towards initiatives and efforts by getting actors together and taking a leading role
in defining shared agendas and visions.
The active leadership must also be backed by strategic as well as
financial commitment on the part of the municipality, as strategic prioritisation and a considerable economic co-financing
signal commitment, a willingness to invest and strong faith in the
initiative on the part of the authorities. This is an important signal
to send to other actors, because it adds weight to the initiative,
and motivates others to invest in the collaboration. In other words,
municipal and regional authorities can play an important part by
putting action and money behind their words and intentions.
38
Active leadership has played a central role in connection with
the Groningen Agreement. The mayor took on a leading role by
assembling relevant actors together in a formal collaboration
that eventually resulted in the shared strategy. Previously,
interaction between the actors of the city had been limited, but
the mayor succeeded in motivating them to meet and collaborate. Among other things, he brought money to the table,
thereby signalling that the initiative was a top political priority.
In Brainport in Eindhoven, the active leadership of the municipal authorities has also played an important role. In particular,
the mayor of Eindhoven has played a leading role in formulating a vision, Brainport 2020, which concerns a geographic
expansion of the Brainport collaboration to include the South
of Holland. The vision is intended to ensure that Brainport
maintains and expands its position as a leading European
technology region. Because of Brainport’s significance for the
national economy, the government has also promised to support the vision.
In Turku, active leadership has taken the shape of e.g. the
municipal authorities’ willingness to support the building of the
biotech cluster through considerable financial contributions.
For example, in 1999, the municipality invested EUR 12,6 million
in the establishment of Turku Bio Valley Ltd. to support the
development of the cluster by facilitating offices, labs and plant
facilities, especially for smaller biotech companies. Moreover,
the municipality invests several million each year in Turku
Science Park. According to one respondent, this is a good investment, as calculations have shown that for every 1 euro given
in support of the Turku Science Park, the park in turn creates
growth for 4.77 euro in the Turku region. The municipality also
owns 90 percent of the company behind the science park,
which is a significant development, as knowledge institutions
and other actors were previously more involved.
Create good conditions for collaboration within the city region
4.5 Create good conditions for collaboration
The case studies also point to the importance of creating good
framework conditions for collaboration between actors. This is
primarily due to the fact that good collaboration happens when
actors trust each other – that is, when they trust that their
partners will not act opportunistically and that they will actually
contribute to the collaboration as promised. Trust is built on
good experiences and over time, but case studies suggest that
the building of trust can be strengthened by active leadership by
the municipal or regional authorities and by limiting the extent
of the collaboration.
A good framework for collaboration also leads to more efficient collaboration, for instance by setting up a clear division
of responsibility and labour between the actors. Apart from
contributing to a more efficient collaboration, the clear division
also helps avoid that the collaboration becomes obstructed by
conflicts of interest.
A precondition for successful collaborations within the city region
is mutual trust among actors. The actors must believe that their
partners will not act opportunistically and that they will indeed
contribute to the collaboration as promised.
Several of the interviewees in the case studies emphasise that
trust is built on several years of collaboration and close dialogue
focused on communicating the benefits of the collaboration to all
parties involved. This trust helps the relations between the municipalities become characterised by a collaborative mentality rather
than a competitive mentality.
However, the case studies also indicate that the building of trust
can be facilitated by active leadership on the part of the municipal
or regional authorities, for instance if the authorities commit themselves strategically and financially, as described in the previous
section, as this sends a clear signal that the authorities believe in
and are committed to the collaboration.
The case studies moreover indicate that the building and maintainenance of trust among actors can be strengthened by limiting the
extent of the collaboration. This means avoiding bringing in more
actors than are necessary in order to reach the shared goals.
There is often a risk that successful collaborations are expanded to
include more actors because people believe that this will likewise
expand the benefits of the collaboration – but there is no guarantee
for that. On the contrary, an unsuitable expansion of the collaboration to include more actors can dilute its focus and erode the trust
established between the original actors. Adjustments and further
development of collaborations should therefore always be based
on well-founded considerations of the purpose and the most appropriate scope of the collaboration.
The case studies also show that a clear division of responsibility
and labour strengthens the efficiency of the collaboration. Firstly,
because this helps ensure a more efficient collaboration, because
the partners’ efforts are coordinated and everybody knows how
best to contribute. Secondly, because a clear division of labour
helps avoid that the collaboration becomes characterised by
conflicts of interests or power struggles between actors. Therefore,
potential conflicts of interest must be predicted and considered
in the design of the collaboration, so that potential conflicting
interests will not overshadow the shared goals.
Trust is an important factor in the Groningen Agreement.
Respondents describe it as a vital precondition for the collaboration. It has taken a long time to establish trust among
the parties, especially as the collaboration has gradually been
expanded. The increased trust has meant that the parties
frequently launch new initiatives that lie outside the framework
of the Groningen Agreement and which are financed by the
partners themselves.
In the Brainport collaboration in Eindhoven, respondents
mention trust as an important criterion for success. Without
trust between the numerous involved parties, carrying out
joint projects would not be feasible. Moreover, according to
interview respondents, it has been vital that the stakeholders
have not used the Brainport platform to promote their own
interests. This is especially important when it comes to the
strategic management, where political representatives work
with representatives from knowledge institutions and the industry: This was a potential source of conflicts of interests and
discussions, but a clear division of labour among the actors has
been in place from the very beginning, wich has helped them
avoid disagreements.
39
5
Organising and anchoring collaboration
within the city region
This chapter presents a number of lessons learned from the
project. Like Chapter 4, Chapter 5 focuses on how cities can further
or support growth through collaboration within the city region.
However, in this chapter we take a closer look at how this kind of
collaboration can be organised and anchored in order to attain
long-term benefits for. These lessons spring primarily from the nine
case studies, but also from other parts of the project.
5.1 Champions are great – but collaboration
must be anchored
Champions can act as catalysts for intercity collaborations
and growth initiatives, but successful initiatives must be
firmly anchored in more permanent constellations and/
or organisations. This anchoring is necessary to secure
more long-term effects of the growth-promoting projects
launched.
Projects can be anchored in several ways, for example
through (1) the identification of key actors that can act as
engines and anchors of growth initiatives, (2) efficient and
timely inclusion of a broad range of relevant actors in the
city region, (3) establishing formal and binding collaborations between actors, and (4) establishing dedicated organisations (such as networks, meeting places or organisations
per se) that can support the project. Last, but not least, a
long-term vision and continuity is important if projects are
to maintain momentum.
10 The Work Foundation. (2010). Anchoring growth: The role of “anchor institutions” in the regeneration of UK cities. Report to The Northern Way.
The case studies show that in some instances, champions, such
as a visionary mayor, play an important part when it comes to
bringing actors around on a shared agenda and establishing a joint
project. However, the case studies also show that all the successful growth-promoting initiatives analysed here have been firmly
anchored in the city. A firm anchoring means that the joint projects
and collaborations will not become superficial and blurred and thus
increases the chance of the projects having a long-term influence
on the growth of the city.
The case studies point to a number of examples as to how growthpromoting initiatives and collaborations can be anchored:
•
Identifying central anchor institutions. Previous analyses 10
emphasise the importance of identifying central actors than
can act as “anchors” for growth-promoting initiatives (e.g.
universities, businesses or citizens’ groups) and therefore play
an important role when it comes to realising the visions of a
project. But it is also important to understand what motivates
these anchor institutions in order to be able to activate and
support them as much as possible in their roles as engines of
growth and development in the city.
•
Including a broad range of relevant actors. If a project is to attain the desired effect, it must include and engage all relevant
actors as early in the process as possible. It is therefore also
important to ensure a broad and timely inclusion of all the
actors that are to take part in realising the aims of the project,
including municipalities, businesses, business organisations,
knowledge institutions, citizens’ groups and other relevant
actors.
41
Organising and anchoring collaboration within the city region
•
•
•
Entering into binding collaborations. Several case studies
show how municipal and regional actors enter into formal and
binding collaborations with businesses, knowledge institutions
and other relevant actors. These collaborations can commit
the actors to undertake certain activities, but they can also
commit them financially. The case studies show examples
of actors committing themselves to certain investments,
coordinated by the municipality or other actors, and examples
of actors committing themselves to investing a percentage
of their earnings in research and development projects to
promote renewal and innovation. The point is that the binding
collaboration ensures a firmer anchoring of growth initiatives
while allowing for the activities and investments of other actors to be included in the planning and execution of municipal
and regional initiatives.
Establishing dedicated organisations to implement growth
initiatives. Good intentions are seldom realised if they are not
anchored in efficient organisational structure. What constitutes an efficient structure depends on the purpose. It might
for instance be a network aimed at strengthening acquaintance and dialogue between local actors, or concrete meeting
places that facilitate a more focused interaction between
these actors. A growth initiative can also be implemented
through the establishment of an independent organisation, a
possibility that we examine in more detail in the next section.
Long-term visions and continuity. Short-term visions or
uncertainty as to future focus areas or financing can ruin even
the most successful projects very quickly. If the interest and
commitment of the actors is to be maintained, it is necessary
to ensure strategic and financial long-term consistency and
continuity in projects.
42
5.2 Establish independent organisations
with their own mandates and means
The responsibility for new growth initiatives is often allocated to existing organisations or some of the participants, for instance a municipal department. However, the
case studies indicate that this can lead to the projects
being de-prioritised or to their sub-optimal implementation. Several of the successful projects in the case studies
are organised as independent, dedicated organisations
with their own mandates and funding, and this holds a
number of benefits for the visibility, strategic flexibility
and overall implementation of the initiatives.
Generally, the case studies indicate that there are large benefits to be gained by organising and anchoring joint initiatives in
independent organisations with their own objectives, resources
and management rather than e.g. placing the responsibility in the
central municipality or among other existing actors.
Respondents from the case cities emphasise that projects that
are anchored in existing organisations often become victims of
administrative challenges or become de-prioritised because of
other assignments and inadequate resources. They also risk being
hindered because of internal politics or conflicts of interest.
Several of the interviewees therefore point to the establishment
of independent organisations with their own funding and a clear
mandate as an important part of the explanation behind successful
growth initiatives. The independence gives joint growth initiatives
more flexibility and dynamism when it comes to launching projects
and implementing them within a shorter time span. At the same
time, it places the responsibility for the collaboration in a dedicated
organisation that can build up a considerable external visibility and
thereby function as a lighthouse for the whole collaboration.
Such independent organisations generally have their own mandates and means, but answer to a steering group or board made up
of representatives from municipalities, regions and other project
participants. Often, these organisations – whose job is to realise the
city’s growth strategies and ambitious projects – consist of a small
secretariate with a few, but hand-picked people with the specialised
experience, networks and competencies to make the project work.
The benefits from such organisations are as follows:
Organising and anchoring collaboration within the city region
•
The project becomes a dedicated activity rather than one of
a number of tasks that compete for time and resources. Also,
the organisation can recruit management and employees with
the competence and experience profile needed to achieve
desired results.
•
The management of the project can be professionalized,
which gives a more efficient planning and implementation
of activities in the project as well as a more effective overall
management. This also opens op for a more professional
marketing of the activities and results of the project, aimed at
the participants as well as at the outside world.
•
The project benefits from greater visibility, which also supports the marketing of the activities and results of the project.
•
The establishment of a dedicated organisation indicates the
will to invest in and commit to the project, and shows that the
new organisation has the means and the mandate necessary
to realise the ambitions of the project.
•
The project has more space for manoeuvring. Collaborative projects can quickly drown in attempts to negotiate
and mediate between participants and other stakeholders,
especially if they are anchored in a political organisation such
as a municipality or a region. In contrast, the independent
organisation has more space within which to manoeuvre and
a clear mandate to manage the interests of the project, and
is therefore better equipped to navigate through actors’ differing interests.
•
An independent organisation is seen as a more neutral actor
and is therefore potentially a better bridge-builder between
actors. The case studies show that several of the independent
institutions (even when they are primarily sponsored by the
municipality and work closely with them) feel that it is a great
advantage for them that other actors in the city region see
them as a neutral and impartial actor. This gives them very
different and far better opportunities to enter into dialogue
with project participants and to bring the actors together.
Respondents particularly mentioned this neutrality as an
advantage when they trying to build bridges between public
authorities and the business sector.
•
An independent organisation can be less risk averse and more
flexible. The case studies point to another advantage of anchoring projects in independent organisations: As independent
units with their own budgets and a more flexible management
structure, they are able to take more risks and to be more
ambitious than organisations like municipalities that have to
consider a broad range of areas of responsibility and political
interests. Moreover, some respondents point to the fact that
the independent organisation, unlike municipal and regional
authorities, is not characterised by a zero-error culture and
therefore allows for greater experimentation and risk taking.
The independent organisation is also smaller and thus more
flexible, making it easier for the organisation to adjust its
activities and use of resources in response to changes in the
project or in the outside world.
Business Region Göteborg in Gothenburg is an independent
company. Among other things, this means that the organisation
is used by industry in a number of respects, because firms see
the organisation as a neutral actor rather than the prolonged
arm of the municipality. For instance, Business Region Göteborg
is included in confidential considerations by the companies,
and the organisation often acts as a bridge or gatekeeper
between firms and the public authorities. This includes establishing contact with the job centre to help recruit employees
for new businesses. Other examples are helping businesses
with legal aspects, as Business Region Göteborg can make
contact with relevant public actors, for instance regarding city
planning.
The Brainport collaboration in Eindhoven is also established
as an independent organisation. This means that it is flexible when it comes to initiating projects and ensuring their
implementation. The projects become more dynamic and are
not hampered by unnecessary bureaucracy. Also, they become
more ambitious, and in practice Brainport has been able to
implement initiatives, which the individual municipalities do
not have the resources to pursue.
43
Organising and anchoring collaboration within the city region
Nottingham Regeneration Ltd. (NRL) is an example of an independent organisation in Nottingham. The rationale behind the establishment of NRL was to create a bridge between the municipal
city planning department and private engineers and developers.
One respondent emphasises that NRL “are the people who make
things happen”. The municipal employees shape the district
plans, but they do not contact private businesses themselves
in order to establish whether they are interested in buying or
developing land. People also point out that NRL helps reduce
risk for private investors, because NRL keeps them abreast of
planned improvements to the infrastructure and other factors
that might influence the value of their investments. NRL has an
important part to play because businesses think of the organisation as an unbiased actor who has the interests of the business
sector at heart.
5.3 Find the right balance between bottomup and top-down initiatives
Good ideas for growth can come from top-down initiatives
from e.g. the municipalities as well as from bottom-up initiatives from e.g. citizens and firms in the city. Moreover,
many growth initiatives are realised through an ongoing
and productive interaction between bottom-up and topdown processes.
Much of this report focuses on how municipalities and regions can
act as catalysts for and support growth, but the case studies also
show that many ideas for growth come from so-called bottom-up
initiatives, that is, from citizens and businesses of the city. The cases also show that there is no standard solution as to what works,
but that successful growth initiatives can come from both bottomup and top-down initiatives. In recent years we have seen greater
openness in urban development policies and strategies towards the
public, and we see an increased inclusion of citizens, for instance
in connection with urban renewal. At the same time, there is a growing recognition that the good urban development policy not only
44
includes the authorities, the business sector and local knowledge
institutions, but also committed citizens and citizens’ groups in the
local community, both in the development and the implementation
of growth policies and initiatives.
The two examples below illustrate how bottom-up and top-down
processes can support each other in order to create growth in a
city, whether the catalyst comes from the municipality or from the
growth layer of the city.
Here we present two different varieties of successful cluster
development: In Freiburg the “green cluster” was catalysed by
local businesses, but supported by the municipality, while the
situation was opposite for the biotech cluster in Turku.
In Freiburg, the city’s green focus has very much been characterised by bottom-up processes. For example, the establishment of a cluster for firms within green energy and sustainability was undertaken on the initiative of local businesses, who
wanted to become more intimately associated with the city’s
green and sustainable profile. It was thus the business sector’s
wish for a formalisation of the collaboration with the public
authorities and a platform for joint marketing of the city that
led to the municipal effort to establish the green cluster.
In contrast, the biotech cluster in Turku was the result of a
clear wish on the side of the municipality to strengthen the
growth potential of the city by bringing together and supporting a number of existing R&D activities within biotech and
medical technology in the business sector and knowledge institutions of the city. The municipality was thus the engine behind
the process that lead to the development of a well-functioning
biotech cluster through close subsequent collaborative efforts
involving local industry and research institutions.
Organising and anchoring collaboration within the city region
5.4 Strengthen and support growth initiatives via public involvement
Efficient public involvement can contribute to the implementation of more visionary and sustainable projects and
strengthen the anchoring and ownership of the project
in the city. There are therefore advantages to be had by
adopting a proactive strategy for public involvement,
where the citizens’ input are considered an integrated
element of the city’s growth strategy and initiatives.
•
Integrating public involvement as a value-creating element
in urban development and growth. A proactive strategy for
involving citizens in projects opens up for a more efficient
use of citizen inputs than a defensive strategy where
citizens are e.g. invited to a dialogue meeting and presented
with a strategy or project that is all but complete.
•
Identifying the best way to include citizens in a given
process. For instance by hosting “open calls” for ideas where
all interested parties can contribute with suggestions. Such
events can also be used to promote projects and stimulate
public involvement. Alternatively, the city can organise more
traditional dialogue or discussion meetings, idea workshops
or other events that are either open to the general public
or targeted at certain citizens’ groups, grassroot organisations, or the city’s business sector. Moreover, relevant actors,
such as representatives from organisations, businesses or
ordinary citizens, can be involved more directly in projects
via focus or advisory groups. The choice of inclusion method
depends on the purpose and time frame of the project, on
which stakeholders are relevant to include, and on how they
are expected to contribute. Whichever method is chosen, it is
important to secure efficient communication and a matching
of expectations early in the process, so that the involved
citizens or businesses know and understand the process and
conditions for their inclusion.
•
Involving the citizens early on in the process. This enables
relevant citizens and citizens’ groups to generate valuable
inputs from the very beginning of a project. However, this
presupposes that the city identifies and includes relevant
citizens at the very beginning of the project.
•
Following up on public involvement processes. The case
studies indicate that it is very important to supply clear
information on the use and value of the input collected
through public involvement processes. This helps strengthen
the sense of ownership of the project among the citizens
In the previous section, we looked at the importance of a good
interlpay between top-down and bottom-up processes for the
development of growth initiatives in the city region. In this section,
we take a closer look at how bottom-up processes can be strengthened and used efficiently.
The case studies show that effective public involvement can be a
strong tool for growth-promoting urban development. Moreover,
public involvement can be used as an integrated element in urban
renewal projects or in cities’ efforts to attract big events like highprofile cultural or sporting events.
The cases also show that public involvement leads to more ownership of projects in the city, thus supporting their anchoring.
However, public involvement in urban development and growth
often takes the form of a reactive process, where the inclusion
of citizens is seen more as a necessary evil than an integrated,
value-creating element. This means, for instance, that citizens are
brought in late in the process, or that the way in which they are
involved in is not optimal.
However, the case studies indicate that there are considerable
advantages to be had by adopting a more proactive strategy for
public involvement, e.g. by:
45
Organising and anchoring collaboration within the city region
and strengthen their incentives to contribute to similar processes in the future.
In Groningen, student involvement has had a big impact on a
number of investments. For instance, the Wireless Groningen
initiative, which involved the establishment of a wireless
network in the whole of Groningen, was created on the basis of
a growing demand from the students of Groningen University
who demanded an ambitious policy in that area. After several
meetings where the subject was discussed with the students,
Groningen University contacted partners from the Groningen
Agreement, and a joint initiative was launched via a dedicated
organisation, Wireless Groningen.
Freiburg has several examples of public involvement in the
city’s development projects and political processes. Freiburg’s
commitment to sustainability was especially driven by public
involvement. Citizens’ groups demanded that the politicians
defined ambitious goals and standards for the city’s general
approach to environmental sustainability. At the same time,
the resident organisation Forum Vauban, the engine behind the
public involvement in the development of a new, award-winning
neighbourhood, was honoured as a “best practice” example of
the results that can be created by involving committed citizens
in urban planning. The successful public involvement in urban
planning processes has also paved the way for more public
involvement. The citizens of Freiburg have thus been given the
chance to be involved in the city’s budget negotiations and
thereby get a more direct influence on central decisions made
in the municipality of Freiburg.
In competition with other Finnish cities, Turku was named the
cultural capital of Europe 2011. Public involvement was a vital
part of the city’s efforts to secure this title. In developing
its original application, the city included a broad variety of
stakeholders by establishing an advisory board with more than
fifty people. This broad included people from the academic
world, the business sector and authorities, elected representatives, artists, journalists etc. Moreover, particular emphasis was
46
placed on a bottom-up approach to the process, which meant
that the city hosted special events and debates that interested
citizens and organisations could attend. At the same time, the
city hosted workshops in neighbouring cities, to ensure that
the region as a whole was included in the process. Moreover,
a so-called “open call” initiative was launched, where citizens
could offer suggestions to potential projects to be undertaken
as part of the “cultural capital”-year. Thirty-five “open call”
suggestions were included in the application. When Turku was
awarded the title, another “open call” was issued. Ultimately,
75 percent of the program was established on the basis of suggestions gathered through these “open calls”.
Organising and anchoring collaboration within the city region
5.5 Support the social infrastructure of the
city region
The case studies show that it is possible to support innovation and development in a city by strengthening its
social infrastructure. Firstly, it is possible to strengthen
diversity and interaction between the city’s actors by
requiring or rewarding interaction and collaboration.
Secondly, shared platforms and designated meeting places
for the actors of the city can also contribute to the development of coherent and boundary-crossing strategies
and efforts by bringing together actors in new, neutral
forums based on shared interests.
The importance of a well-functioning social infrastructure for innovation in the city has already been emphasised. A social infrastructure is well-functioning when the city is characterised by strong
personal relations and shared interests across organisations,
facilitating an open and trusting exchange of ideas and knowledge.
This is an important engine of city development, because new ideas
and projects basically happen when people meet and share and
discuss their ideas and experiences.
The key to innovation lies in the degree of variety between the
actors (that is, the diversity of the competencies and experiences
they bring to the forum) and the degree of interaction between
the actors (that is, how well they complement each other, and how
much and how efficiently they interact).
The challenge is to bring actors with complementary competencies
and insights together in an efficient manner. This opens up for
new connections to be made between the resources of the city. In
other words, the aim is to bring assets and strongholds of the city
together in new ways that can contribute to growth. Medium-sized
cities have a particularly good starting point for promoting the
development of the urban growth system through a better social
infrastructure, because the strongest personal ties are typically
found in the local community where people work and live. In
medium-sized cities there are often strong networks among central
11 See e.g. Lorenzen. (2001). Localized learning and policy: Academic advice
on enhancing regional competitiveness through learning. European Planning Studies 9(2): 163-185; OECD. (2001). Cities and regions in the new learning economy.
actors, which makes it easier to identify and bring together actors
than in e.g. a metropolis. 11
The results of the project indicate that it is possible to bring innovation and renewal to a city by strengthening its social infrastructure. The case studies show that cities can strengthen diversity
and interaction between the city’s actors by requiring or rewarding
their collaboration. The cases also show that shared platforms and
designated meeting places for actors in the city can contribute to
the development of boundary-crossing strategies and projects by
bringing together relevant actors around shared interests in new
forums.
Some possible ways in which the social infrastructure in a city can
be strengthened are:
•
Demanding – or creating incentives for – interaction between
actors. For example, the city can enter into binding collaborations with project participants that involve dialogue or collaborating with other actors. The city can also support projects
or initiatives carried out in collaboration with certain actors
(such as knowledge institutions or businesses). Another possibility is to support short-term, temporary projects between
actors (such as pilot projects) in order to stimulate and fund
experimentation with potential collaborations.
•
Creating efficient meeting places that further and support
interaction. If actors who do not normally meet, are to be
brought together, the city can create designated meeting
places that these actors have an interest and an incentive
to participate in. Such meeting places might for instance
assemble actors within a particular industry sector, or actors
working on certain themes within urban development or other
focus areas in the city region. The meeting places might for instance take the form of morning meetings, short and focused
workshops, or larger conferences for invited participants.
47
6
Support the city’s growth through collaboration across city regions
In this chapter we move away from collaboration within the city
region and move on to intercity collaboration, that is, collaboration
across city regions. This chapter will present a number of lessons
learned, focusing on how cities can further or support growth
through intercity collaboration, and how this kind of collaboration
can be organised and anchored. These lessons spring primarily
from the nine case studies, but also from other parts of the project.
6.1 Collaboration can support the city
region’s growth and adaptability
Collaborations between cities and city regions can support growth policies and initiatives in the city region.
Well-functioning intercity collaborations have a number of
advantages, including (1) a basis for exchange of experience and learning, (2) the establishment of a strong,
shared geographical axis in the city landscape, (3) a united
front with which to strengthen the general influence of the
cities and their ability to attract investments, businesses
and talent, (4) shared marketing and city branding, (5)
targeted export growth and R&D collaboration, and (6) a
stronger adaptability through knowledge bridges to the
outside world.
The case studies point to a number of potential advantages from
collaborating with other cities and city regions:
•
A basis for exchange of experience and learning. As cities
face many of the same challenges and often work on similar
projects, they can benefit greatly from more or less formalised structures for exchange of experiences and knowledgesharing among cities.
•
A shared axis in the city landscape. A way in which mediumsized cities can compete more efficiently with metropolises
in order to attract investments, businesses and economic
activity is by entering into alliances with each other. Some
cities describe it as entering into a strategic alliance in order
to draw a new “axis” in the city landscape, e.g. by carrying
out ambitious infrastructure projects or shared marketing,
business or cultural activities, that tie two cities more closely
together, thus creating (or giving the sense of) a stronger,
combined region.
•
A united front to strengthen the general influence and attractiveness of the cities. Just as cities in the same city region can
collaborate in order to establish a stronger, united front in the
national or international city landscape, city regions can collaborate in order to strengthen their general political visibility
and influence. Collaboration between cities can thus be used
to increase the bargaining power of the cities and improve
their ability to attract economic activities and funding, both
nationally and internationally.
•
Joint marketing and city branding. Just as shared marketing
can help cities within a city region strengthen their general
profile and visibility, city regions can collaborate in order
to improve and communicate their image in the eyes of the
outside world. This can help attract e.g. business, investments
and large cultural or sporting events to the cities.
Even though the project shows that collaboration within the city
region can have major influence on the city’s growth, the case
studies also indicate that there are many advantages to be had by
collaborating with cities outside the city region.
There are many forms of collaboration, as they can include both
close and faraway cities, and cities in the same country or abroad.
The choice of partner depends, among other things, on the purpose
of the collaboration, on how close the cities are geographically, on
how easy it is to move between them, and on how they can best
support each other’s growth potential and targets.
Moreover, there are many degrees of formalisation. They span
from casual meetings and twin city collaborations to long-term
and financially binding strategic partnerships. Again, the choice of
partnership depends on the purpose of the collaboration.
49
Support the city’s growth through collaboration across city regions
•
•
Focused export promotion and R&D collaboration. The case
studies also show that cities use international city collaboration to support export promotion and/or joint research
and education efforts. The case studies contain several of
examples of how cities enter into active and multidimensional
collaborations with faraway cities (e.g. in China), which has
facilitated and strengthened their businesses’ and knowledge
institutions’ strategic access to important foreign cities. These
collaborations also help attract foreign businesses to the
cities.
Strengthened capacity for innovation and adaptation through
international knowledge bridges. One of the major challenges
facing successful cities is to avoid resting on their laurels.
It often happens that a city has built a position of strength
in a particular research area or industry sector, only to see
its position eroded because the city failed to notice or adapt
to important changes in the global technology and business
environment. However, collaboration with other cities, e.g.
through networking among businesses or research collaborations or through student exchange programs, can play an
important role in establishing “bridges” for the transfer of
knowledge and ideas from abroad. Such bridges can therefore
help the city stay abreast of significant developments in the
outside world.
However, the abovementioned advantages are not a guaranteed
outcome of intercity collaboration. The case studies point to factors
and initiatives that increase the likelihood that collaboration with
either close or faraway cities till contribute to increased growth in
the city region. These factors and initiatives are described in more
detail in the remainder of this chapter, which also takes a closer
look at the key advantages of collaborating across city regions.
50
6.2 Use knowledge bridges and informal
collaboration to encourage innovation
Connections to other cities can support the city’s ability
to adjust and renew its growth system, in response to
changes and developments in the outside world.
Such connections can be established through e.g. municipal networks and exchange of experience with other
cities, as well as through the establishment of “knowledge bridges” in the shape of e.g. business networks or
research and education collaborations between knowledge
institutions.
As described in the previous chapter, every successful city runs the
risk of resting so heavily on its existing positions of strength that
it fails to notice or respond to significant changes in the outside
world that might threaten its long-term growth. For example, a
city that is recognised for its achievements within sustainable
energy or infrastructure development can be outmatched by other
cities, or its position of strength can become outdated due to new
scientific or technological developments. It is thus important to
establish connections to other city regions and to the rest of the
world through which the city and its actors can keep updated on
important developments, so that activities and the growth system
in the city may be adjusted accordingly.
There are two overall ways in which a city can connect with the
outside world. Firstly, the city can enter into collaborations on
exchange of experience and learning with other cities, e.g. through
the so-called twin city collaborations or networks for actors that
work with urban and business development either on a local or a
regional level. The city can also gather experience from other cities
that have achieved “best practice” in a relevant area. This kind of
collaboration can be both national and international.
However, the challenge of these kinds of collaborations is often
that they become too broad in their focus or in the range of participants. This diffuses the relevance of the collaboration for many
cities and can increase the degree of bureaucracy connected with
the collaboration. The case studies indicate that the most efficient
collaborations are those that centre on a few, central themes and a
smaller, but relevant, group of selected actors.
Support the city’s growth through collaboration across city regions
For instance, Freiburg participates in a collaboration focusing
on environmental sustainability around the Aalborg Charter. In
this collaboration, the participants exchange knowledge and
experiences on their efforts in the field of sustainability. The
participating cities exchange knowledge on how local city administrations implement sustainability in urban development.
However, respondents say that it is hard to unfold the collaboration, and that its full potential has yet to be realised.
We also find examples of knowledge-sharing and learning in
other intercity collaborations. The collaboration between Nottingham and Karlsruhe has e.g. led Nottingham to organise its
infrastructure for public transportation based on a successful
model developed in Karlsruhe. Apart from adopting Karlsruhe’s
infrastructure model, Nottingham has also learned from Karlsruhe’s experiences and adjusted the infrastructure model in
order to reach a better solution for their city.
The university in Eindhoven has entered into collaborations
with a number of foreign universities, including Manipal University in India and Northeastern University in Shenyang. The
technical university of the city, TU/e, has also, together with the
Netherlands Design Institute, entered into a collaboration with
the National University of Singapore.
Gothenburg’s twin city collaboration with Shanghai is an
example of relations between cities can be used in focused
export promotion. Through this collaboration, which was established more than twenty years ago, Gothenburg has developed
a good relationship with the Shanghai city administration. This
means that the local city administaiton helps provide contacts
and facilitate export promotion in Shanghai for Gothenburg and
Swedish companies. According to respondents, this has made a
big difference for Swedish businesses seeking to start up activities in China. Moreover, the collaboration has helped attract
Chinese businesses to the Gothenburg region.
Secondly, as mentioned in the previous section, cities can establish
knowledge-bridges to other cities and regions. The case studies
indicate that initiatives to establish informal connections to other
cities – e.g. through conferences or networks for businesses in related sectors, or support for collaboration on research or education
between knowledge institutions – can create important “bridges” to
knowledge and ideas abroad.
Focused export promotion and R&D collaboration through international intercity collaboration can also establish knowledge
bridges while simultaneously strengthening international business
opportunities for the city’s industry. Such collaborations help facilitate access to knowledge and personal networks, which can help
citizens and businesses of the city gather vital knowledge on new
growth opportunities and international developments. Knowledge
bridges can thus help the city stay updated on significant changes
in the outside world and continually pave the way for (preferably proactive) adjustments and adaptations of the city’s growth
system.
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Support the city’s growth through collaboration across city regions
6.3 Find the right balance between cooperation and competition
Cities compete with each other when it comes to attracting citizens, businesses and investments. But the case
studies indicate that cities can improve their position in
the international competition for resources for economic
growth by entering into strategic collaborations and alliances with other cities.
However, it is important to ensure that intercity collaborations and alliances are considered in relation to the city’s
general growth strategy in order to reap the maximum
value for the city’s development.
Cities compete with each other in order to attract skilled labour
and resourceful citizens, businesses, investors with risk capital, and
large, international cultural and sporting events. The competition
between cities for resources that can strengthen city growth is
national as well as global.
Previously, competition between cities was seen as a “winner
takes all” situation, where one city won all the glory, while the
others lost. However, there is a growing recognition that cities can
strengthen their possibilities for economic growth and attain a
stronger position in the national and international competition between cities by entering into strategic collaborations and alliances
with other cities.
Such collaboration is about creating the best possible conditions
for the cities’ growth through e.g. shared business-promotion initiatives, collaboration on education, or shared marketing.
The collaboration between Saarbrücken and its neighbouring
cities in France and Belgium is an example of cities collaborating rather than competing to strengthen their combined
growth potential. The cities have discovered that collaboration
on attracting businesses, students and academics has led to
advantages for all the cities involved. These mutual benefits
are the driving factor that motivates the collaboration, based
on the idea that e.g. establishing a business in one of the
partner cities will strengthen the region as a whole and lead to
positive effects that can further strengthen collaboration and
complementarity between the cities.
6.4 Create a strong, united front through
formal intercity collaboration
Cities and their city regions can create a stronger, united
front by entering into focused alliances and partnerships
with each other. For example, collaboration can strengthen
the cities’ individual as well as shared chances of attracting businesses, students, labour or international events
such as cultural or sporting events. Collaboration also
gives the cities the opportunity to increase their influence
on the development of national or international policies
and initiatives.
The case studies give a number of examples of how cities and city
regions can strengthen their combined influence and attractiveness by entering into focused collaborations and alliances.
As mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, cities can enter
into collaborations in order to establish a shared axis in the city
landscape. As such, medium-sized cities can strengthen their
visibility and competitive edge. The collaboration can for instance
be based on joint infrastructure development or shared marketing,
business or cultural activities.
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Support the city’s growth through collaboration across city regions
Such collaborations can be entered into with other medium-sized
cities, but also with metropolises, so that a medium-sized city can
use its proximity to a metropolis strategically rather than regard it
as a weakness. In this case, the aim of the strategic collaboration
should be to strengthen and signal complementarities and connections between the medium-sized city and the metropolis, just as
the previous chapter described how to strengthen complementarity
and connections between the core city and other cities in its city
region.
Gothenburg has entered into a collaboration with Oslo in order
to create a shared axis in the Northern European landscape.
The aim is to establish a more coherent region and make
it more attractive and competitive in order to attract more
businesses. In this connection, the focus has been on a number
of target areas, including bio- medicine, where the ambition is
to make the region a leading biomedical region in Europe. The
collaboration also concerns infrastructure development in the
region and includes objectives to establish a high-speed train
from Oslo to Berlin before 2019.
Cities can also collaborate in order to strengthen their shared
influence, for instance by strengthening their political visibility
and influence nationally or internationally. Intercity collaboration
can thus be used to strengthen the cities’ barganining position and
their ability to attract economic activity and funding internationally.
The case studies especially indicate that it can be advantageous to
make alliances across national borders in order to be able to apply
for EU funding for intercity collaborations or joint, international
development projects.
A central challenge for many medium-sized cities is that they
feel that they are far away from the political centre in the capital and thus have to work hard to strengthen political attention
and priorities in their area. Intercity collaboration can increase
the shared visibility and influence of the cities and also support
the coordination and implementation of local and regional
growth-promoting initiatives.
Saarbrücken has shown that intercity collaborations with
neighbouring cities (also across national borders) is an important way in which medium-sized cities can communicate their
challenges and needs more effectively to national governments.
Core Cities is a collaboration between the eight largest English
cities outside of London. The Core Cities organisation works to
influence the national government and the framework it sets
for the cities’ development. The collaboration has enabled the
cities to carve out a position that none of them could have attained on their own. Core Cities works to put the regional cities’
contribution to the national growth on the agenda. The organisation also works to change national legislation in areas where
the cities believe that existing laws hamper their opportunities
for growth. This has for instance led to a change in the national
tax legislation, so that it has become easier for the cities to
borrow money, using the future earnings from expected growth
as a guarantee. Core Cities does not try to obtain financing for
the individual city, but instead seeks to strengthen the overall
framework conditions for all the cities. The individual city then
has to compete for means on its own: the collaborations seeks
to make “a bigger cake” before the cities can compete to get
the largest pieces of it.
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Support the city’s growth through collaboration across city regions
Last, but not least, the case studies show that cities can collaborate on strengthening their appeal to e.g. businesses, investors
and international events, for instance through shared initiatives or
branding.
With a stronger, shared profile and visibility, as well as perhaps
coordinated and complementary growth initiatives, city regions
can collaborate to improve and communicate their strengths and
competitiveness to the outside world.
For instance, Turku used its good relations with other cities
actively in its application to become European cultural capital
in 2011. The city hosted workshops with twin cities and other
partner cities such as Tallinn, Stockholm, Gothenburg and
St. Petersburg, which led to the initiation of several concrete
projects that might support Turku’s application. Apart from
Finland, it was also Estonia’s turn to host a cultural capital,
which encouraged Turku to coordinate its application and plans
with the Tallinn and Tartoo, who were both competing for the
Estonian title. As a result, ideas for shared projects were incorporated into Turku’s application. When Turku and Tallinn were
named as hosts, the plans were realised and boosted, which
has resulted in shared projects within theatre, church music,
performance art and other fields.
Karlsruhe and Saarbrücken have entered into collaborations
across national borders in order to, among other things,
strengthen mobility across Central and Eastern Europe by
establishing high-speed train connections and strengthening
growth by increasing the mobility of labour and companies
across collaborating cities. Both kinds of collaboration have
shown that there is much support from EU to be gained for
such collaborations. Because they deal with specific collaborative projects that span European borders, they embody core
principles behind the EU, and are therefore eligible for funding.
Respondents point out that multinational collaborations have
a better “case” when it comes to applying for EU funds than
purely national projects. Moreover, such projects are often
larger and more ambitious than national projects.
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6.5 Ensure a professional organisation and
management of the collaboration
One risk of intercity collaboration is that the gains of the
collaboration drown in coordination difficulties and poor
management. If the aim of the collaboration is to coordinate cities’ business promotion or marketing initiatives, or
to support shared lobbying efforts, it is especially important to ensure a professional and committed management
and set clear goals for the activities and results of the
collaboration.
Intercity collaboration risks falling prey to coordination difficulties
and sub-optimal management. Large, international collaborations
in particular run this risk, and the costs of participating can therefore quickly exceed the benefits.
However, the case studies indicate that many of these difficulties
can be reduced considerably if the collaboration is managed by
a professional management, either in a separate organisation or
anchored in existing organisations involved in the collaboration.
Professional management also helps set clear goals for the activities and results of the collaboration.
If the collaboration is extensive – e.g. if the goal is to coordinate
cities’ promotion of trade or marketing, or to support a shared lobbying effort – it is especially important to establish a professional
and dedicated management.
Support the city’s growth through collaboration across city regions
In especially two of Saarbrückens intercity collaborations, SaarLor-Lux and QuattroPole, the importance of the professional
organisation of the collaboration has been very obvious. In the
Saar-Lor-Lux collaboration between the regions of Saarland in
Germany, Lorraine in France and Luxemburg, the collaboration
is managed by the top authorities of the participating regions.
The participation of top-level decision-makers means that
ideas can be quickly translated into action, and it also signals
that the collaboration is a key priority for all participants.
The intercity collaboration QuattroPole – which includes Metz,
Luxembourg, Trier and Saarbrücken – is managed by the four
mayors of the cities who each support the collaboration with
a secretariat at the city hall. This means that the collaboration
has a clear authority and process for decision-making, and
that the cities’ budgets can supply the means to implement
decisions, pending political goodwill.
6.6 Active leadership leads to greater
influence
The case studies show that – especially in larger, international collaborations – active leadership leads to benefits
that strengthen the city’s advantages from participating
in the collaboration. These benefits include increased
influence on the content of the collaboration and the combination of participants, as well as greater exposure both
within and outside of the collaborative venture.
A significant challenge in intercity collaborations, especially if
they are international, is to ensure that it pays off to partake in
the collaboration. The costs of participating can quickly outweigh
the gains, particularly if the focus or extent of the collaboration is
unclear.
the city’s own commitment to the collaboration. The case studies
indicate that these two factors and thus the value of the collaboration for the city are strengthened considerably if the city takes
on an active role in the leadership of the collaboration. Examples
from the case studies show that taking an active role in the establishment and management of intercity collaborations leads to a
number of advantages, such as:
•
Considerable influence in the start-up phase, e.g. on the
organisation of activities and the set of participants in the
collaboration.
•
Considerable influence on the ongoing implementation and
adjustment of the collaboration, including its content and
focus.
•
Greater visibility in the collaboration – both internally in
relation to partners and externally in relation to investors and
other stakeholders.
For Karlsruhe, the city’s and especially the mayor’s active
participation in a grand EU project on infrastructure and the
development of a high-speed train connection in Europe has
had a big impact on the city. The mayor’s active leadership of
the project meant, among other things, that Karlsruhe was not
left out of the train connection, as was originally the plan. The
active leadership also provided Karlsruhe with influence on the
design of the project and enabled the city to target the project
to Karlsruhe’s aims and strengths. As Karlsruhe was already
known for its efficient transport infrastructure within the city,
this international collaboration has helped to further strengthen the city’s competitive advantage on infrastructure issues.
What can a city do to ensure that its participation in an intercity
collaboration creates value? Firstly, it must ensure that the activities launched as part of the collaboration are generally of a high
quality and are relevant for the city. Secondly, it is vital to maintain
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Appendix
Overview of the case study cities
Eindhoven
• Samenwerkingsverband Region Eindhoven (SRE),
a collaboration between 21 municipalities in the
Eindhoven region
• Brainport, a triple helix partnership within the city
region
• High Tech Campus, science park
Groningen
• Groningen Agreement, a vision and binding partnership between key actors in the city region
• Joint platforms, e.g. City of Talent and Healthy
Ageing
• Wireless Groningen, an initiative that developed (in
part) from the Groningen Agreement
Gothenburg
• Business Region Göteborg, an industry-oriented collaboration between cities within the region
• Göteborg & Co., a marketing organisation
• Biogas Väst, a local collaboration focused on biogas
• International collaboration with Shanghai
Turku
• Turku Bio Valley, a biotechnological cluster developed through a triple helix collaboration, and the
Turku Science Park
• Turku on Fire: Turku as the European Capital of
Culture 2011, including international collaborations
with Tallinn and St. Petersburg and collaboration
with other cities witin the region
Manchester
• Associations of Greater Manchester Authorities
(AGMA), a collaboration among 10 municipalities,
and Greater Manchester Combined Authority
• Manchester Knowledge Capital (M:KC), an organisation that promotes innovation in the region
• The Manchester Independent Review (MIER)
• Core Cities, a collaboration among England’s major
regional cities
Nottingham
• Greater Nottingham Partnership, a collaboration
between cities within the region
• Accelerate Nottingham (ICT initiative)
• Nottingham Regeneration Limited (urban regeneration and renewal)
• International collaboration with Karlsruhe
• Core Cities, a collaboration among England’s major
regional cities
Freiburg
• University of Excellence – a national initiative which
includes the University of Freiburg
• City development through a dedicated, long-term
focus on sustainable energy sources (particularly
solar power), collaboration within the city region,
and public involvement
Saarbrücken
• QuattroPole, an international strategic alliance
between Trier, Metz and Luxemburg
• EurodistrICT SaarMoselle, an international collaboration between the Moselle and Saarland regions
• Eurozone Saarbrücken-Forbach, an international
business and service park
Karlsruhe
• The Karlsruhe infrastructure model, a best practice
example
• Magistrale for Europe, a trans-European collaboration for the creation of a high-speed railway line
• Cluster Linked Over Europe (CLOE), an international
collaborative network between clusters
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