state of the world's cities 2012/2013 - United Nations Sustainable ...

State of the World’s Cities 2012/2013Some cities areCities that succeed strengthening comparativeFACT in fostering the advantage by showcasingexchange of ideas andtheir tangible andinnovations are able to tapinto growth dynamics thatintangible heritage andfuel the creation of social exploiting their culturaland intellectual capital,identity, in an effort tothereby further contributing bring about social andto their productivity.economic transformation. 20Doha, for example, isdeveloping education andarts as part of the city’s newCities thatpolicy succeed incultural vision. 21 Gaziantepeducating, attractingin eastern Turkey hasand retaining creativestarted to use culturalindividuals are more likely heritage as a touristicto prosper, as they not only asset for the purposesgenerate new ideas andof increased prosperity.products but, in turn, alsoattract high-value addedHeritage restoration andfirms, such as knowledgebasedindustries.quality of life whilerehabilitation enhancecontributing to economicdevelopment. 22Talent, in turn, is aA city’s existingfunction of the quality offact talent pool isschool systems and highera major determinant ofproductivity. The moreeducation. Many cities inhighly skilled a city’sthe developing world arepopulation, the more likely it faced with brain drainis to attract more talent. due to lack of local andnational policies to retainhighly qualified individuals.With the exception ofBy offering anAsia, where about half ofpolicy environmentconducive for Research andthe local experts perceiveDevelopment, cities can be that cities are makingkey players in a knowledgebasedeconomy, as there proportions are alarminglyefforts to retain talent, theis a direct link betweenlow in other regions.Research and Development,There are exceptions,technology and productivity.though: Dubai emphasizeshigher education andtraining in engineering andinformation technologies. 23 Chongqing has developed anambitious training programme to support the transition ofrural migrants from manual-based to skill-based types ofwork; by 2009, nearly one-third of migrants had benefitedfrom the scheme. 24Some cities in developing countries have embracedthe model of world-class innovation clusters, such asCalifornia’s Silicon Valley or Boston’s Route 128, to become‘high-tech hubs’. Those that have met with success inthis endeavour, such as India’s Bangalore, owe it to thesame basic factors: the presence of top-quality academicand research institutions as well as substantial public andcorporate investment. However, some observers claimthat the city needs to pay more attention to infrastructuredevelopment and to ensure that the benefits of growth aremore evenly distributed across all the population.Quality of life is rapidly emerging as a major assetin any efforts to attract and retain creative minds andbusinesses. It comes as no surprise that Toronto, SanFrancisco or Stockholm should consistently rank amongthe top performing cities in the world, since they are foundas performing particularly well in a wide range of botheconomic and quality of life indicators, crime, green areas,air quality and life satisfaction. Outside the more developednations, Singapore, with a similar balance of quality of lifeattributes, also ranks among the top world cities and thehighest among developing countries.Urban Productivity: Some ChallengesWhile China’s urban population increased from 17 to39 per cent within a span of 40 years (from 1963 to 2003),the same change in urban population took 120 years inGreat Britain and 80 years in the USA. 26 Cities in moreadvanced countries are better positioned to capitalize onthe agglomeration economies associated with populationgrowth. This is not just because that growth is moremanageable (typically around one per cent per year); butalso because, as suggested by their high GDP per capita,these cities already have the physical and institutionalsupport needed to capitalize on that demographicpotential. Such capacities are generally not available indeveloping countries,leaving fast-expandingcities more exposedTop performingto the agglomeration fact cities derivediseconomies whichtheir strengths notprevent them fromjust from their statusfully capitalizing on theas global economicproductivity potentialpowerhouses orfrom sophisticatedassociated with sustainedinfrastructure, butpopulation growthalso from their ability(typically an annual rateto enhance quality ofof two to four per cent or life. 2544