ECONOMICS UNIQUENESS

6 ■ THE ECONOMICS OF UNIQUENESS
some cases planners, in their desire to appeal to a stereotyped image of the tastes
of knowledge workers, had seriously undermined the local distinctiveness and
uniqueness of their cities and instead created “analogous cities”—cities that are
so generic it is diffi cult to diff erentiate one from another.
Any good strategist will attest that the key to a successful strategy is to positively
diff erentiate your product from your competitors, and that such “me too”
eff orts are therefore wasteful and self-defeating. Th e key to successful diff erentiation
is to build on urban assets that are unique to the city. In most cases, this will
involve regeneration of historic core areas of the city in a manner that is sensitive
to their cultural heritage. Th is will ensure that the city will have an authentic
sense of place that contributes greatly to attracting talent on a sustainable basis,
and which, in turn, will be a magnet for business. As Michael Bloomberg, mayor
of New York City, put it recently: “I’ve always believed that talent attracts capital
more eff ectively and consistently than capital attracts talent” (EIU 2012).
Implications for Urban Development Strategies
Th e above analysis and the case study of Dublin presented next suggest that
urban regeneration strategies that build on the city’s heritage and preserve its
best features can provide the diff erentiation that can underpin a city’s overall
economic development strategy. In particular, the city’s heritage character can
contribute to its ability to attract investment for knowledge-based businesses.
Th is is not to suggest that this is the sole or primary reason for preserving our
built and cultural heritage. But this signifi cant benefi t is a complement to others
that are described in the chapters by Th rosby, Rama, Nijkamp, and Rypkema. It
is, of course, somewhat more diffi cult to make a direct connection between an
urban regeneration/preservation project and a city’s ability to later attract talent
and business investment—harder than, for example, showing how a regeneration
project has attracted tourists and their spending. As with assessing the value of
future tourism earnings, an evaluation model to assess the value of attracting
business investment would require assumptions about the value of likely investment
fl ows in terms of their direct contribution to the local economy, as well as
any spillovers and deadweight eff ects. Nevertheless, the potential for such positive
results is very real.
Th e link between a livable urban core and a city’s ability to attract business is
not confi ned to businesses that locate in or near the core. In the case of Dublin,
proximity to a livable city center has also proved to be important for knowledgeintensive
companies located on the periphery. When these companies recruited
employees with specialized skills and languages from outside Dublin, many of
these people chose to live in the center and reverse commute. Th ey clearly wanted