Capitalising on Position

Abstract

., 2005; Cheshire, 2006). Some recent literature (OECD, 2006) has shown that several cities and regions now have higher growth rates than their national average, suggesting that they are increasingly becoming the engines of economic growth and dynamism. Furthermore, while cities have traditionally been viewed within their respective national economic hierarchies, increasingly they are seen as playing a role in the wider European economic context. In the European context there are now regional capital cities and at least the concept of a European capital (Van der Wusten, 2000). Nonetheless, the challenges presented by globalisation, economic restruc­turing and institutional change mean that cities are in constant competition with each other for economic activity, jobs, skills and talent.Achieving this competitive economic advantage is traditionally associated with classic or ‘hard’ factors such as accessibility to well­functioning labour markets, good transport and communications infrastructure, proximity to university and research facilities, land and real estate prices, and planning and financial regimes, which are all key to attracting businesses. Significantly, however, the quality of the urban environment is now regarded by some as a vital factor in the ability of leading cities to become and remain competitive. The American academic Richard Florida (Florida, 2002, 2005) has asserted that cities need to develop an attractive ‘people climate’ in order to attract and retain the skilled workforce necessary to transform post­industrial cities into those of the creative knowledge economy. This points to an advantage for cities with distinctive architectures and preserved historic neighbour­hoods, well­developed cultural amenities (museums, theatres and art galler­ies, as well as cafe culture and street art) and natural recreational amenities (parks, rivers, canals, etc.). Many of these factors are, however, associated with the history of cities – they include legacies in terms of built environ­ment, culture and tradition. Indeed, many of the ‘quality of place’ (Florida, 2002) factors that are deemed important for urban competitiveness in the creative knowledge economy are extremely difficult to (re)create.There is also a body of literature that suggests that the historical development path of a city is fundamental in shaping urban competitiveness (Martin and Sunley, 2006; Boschma and Martin, 2010). In other words – and as has also been shown in Chapter 4 – history matters. The argument is that contexts, once developed, tend to have a contingent impact on future developments, so cities inherit the legacy of their past development, and this partly shapes their possibilities for the future (Simmie