Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
investors are taking actions in the citizens' interest and the presence of public
institutions will increase the trust of citizens in the initiatives.
On the other hand, looking at the picture from a different and more global
perspective, it is generally recognized that cities are the indisputable engines of
economic growth across Europe and the entire world. In a general context of
economic and technological transformations caused by globalization and by a
constant process of interaction and integration (Anthopoulos and Vakali
2013
), the
European cities are facing a decisive challenge for the future of all European
citizens: conjugating competitivity with sustainable urban development. In virtu-
ally all European countries, urban areas are the foremost producers of knowledge
and innovation—the hubs of a globalising world economy. Bigger cities generally
contribute more to the economy, but not all big cities do so. For cities with more
than 1 million inhabitants, GDP figures are 25 % higher than in the EU as a whole
and 40 % higher than their national average. The contribution of cities to GDP
levels tends to level off with decreasing size. Smaller cities (up to 100,000) tend to
lag behind their nations, but display average economic growth rates.
Smaller cities, where most of the European citizens live (State of European
cities Ex Report Eu
2007
; Efficientcities Siemens
2012
; Scanu et al.
2012
), are
facing a hard challenge competing with larger cities, often not having availability
of resources and the same organizational ability.
To apply an autonomous development starting from the resources available on
the territory, and to increase their productivity, these cities have to put into evi-
dence and value their points of strength.
''The Wealth Report (
2012
)'', analysing the global economy and the tendencies
till 2050, connects the urban smartness to the economic wealth, saying that cities
that are now hardly known will be able to participate in the global economy by
2050
because
are
now
implementing
strategies
to
become
'intelligent
communities'.
Another interesting topic of the study is the identification of 'networks of cities'
as important infrastructure for the global economy.
This began in the late 1980s and now has become clear that the world's geo-
political future is not going to be determined by the combination of the United
States and China. It will instead run via 20 or so strategic urban networks.
These networks have grown in importance on the back of the globalisation and
urbanisation of an increasing number of economic activities. Those cities that
work together begin to matter more in the global economy and in geopolitics than
their respective countries. Firms that sell to other firms rather than consumers
thrive on the specialised differences of global cities. Consider London, New York
and Paris—they are all major financial centres, but they are specialised in very
different sectors of finance. What matters to these firms is not the city as a
supermarket, but as a specialised shop. By this rationale, different firms will prefer
different city networks. The various city rankings and indices do measure some-
thing that matters. But for many firms, if they can avoid locating in London or
New York, where costs are high, and if Copenhagen serves their purposes just as
well, there is little doubt as to where they will go. The mass consumption sector is
