Innovation-in-Europes-Cities_Bloomberg-Mayors-Challenge1

An Urban AgeAn unequal continentThe range of GDP per capita inEurope is so broad that cities ineastern Europe are far closer to manydeveloping African and Asian citiesthan to those situated in western andnorthern Europe. Groningen in theNetherlands (€53,810); London inthe UK (€54,600); Dublin in Ireland(€55,330); and Copenhagen inDenmark (€56,100) are significantlywealthier in per capita terms thanRomania’s Botoșani (€2,260) andCluj-Napoca (€5,840), or Bulgaria’sBurgas (€3,100), Stara Zagora(€3,500) and Varna (€3,610). Citieswith GDP per capita over €50,000are concentrated in northern andwestern Europe. Regionally, therelationship between city and countrylevelGDP growth varies. In the east,cities are growing slower than thecomparatively high growth seen atnational level, while in the south thistrend is largely reversed. However,the general pattern for Europe overallis that cities either match or exceednational growth, with the clear outlierbeing Italy, where several individualcities are contracting more rapidlythan the level shown by the state.Eastern Europe continues to growmore quickly than the rest of theContinent despite the rate of growthhaving slowed since 2009. However,the relatively low base of theseeconomies and the poor performanceof many Mediterranean statesmean Europe will continue to havesignificant regional disparities.GDP growth% average annual growth(2003 -2013)-2%-1%01234567PortugalIrelandCoimbra -0.5%SpainCity GDP per capita (€)(2013)80,00040,00020,0002,300United KingdomYork -0.2%FranceNetherlandsBelgiumLuxembourgFinlandNorwaySweden Stockholm 3.2%EstoniaLatviaDenmarkLithunaniaKaunas 3.8%Gdańsk 5.6%BelarusPolandWarsaw 4.5%GermanyHalle -0.5%Gliwice 5.2%Czech RepublicMannheim -0.3%SlovakiaAustria Bratislava 5.2%SwitzerlandSloveniaHungaryMoldovaCluj-Napoca 4.1%CroatiaRomaniaFerrara -1.2%SerbiaBosnia and HerzegovinaMontenegroSofia 6.9%BulgariaKosovoLatina -1%MacedoniaItalyAlbaniaLarissa -1.7%Messina -1.7% GreeceAthens -0.9%UkraineRussiaTurkeyCyprus12