During the past decade, as trade barriers have been lowered as a consequence of trade liberalisation negotiations conducted at both the international and the regional levels, urban economies have been increasingly vulnerable to competitive forces emanating from the most distant corners of the global economy as well as having been presented with previously unimaginable opportunities for penetration of markets equally distant. National governments have accepted self-imposed constraints on their capacity to intervene in their own economies, through adoption of limitations on the use of tariffs, quotas and other traditional devices, and through establishment of impartial, trade dispute resolution mechanisms. Technological change has only exacerbated the situation facing each urban economy and, in many industries, industrial agglomerations are giving way to plants, such as mini-mills in steel production, that can be located according to a new set of criteriaÐ proximity to consumers and access to transport, rather than proximity to resources; or to labour with certain qualities, rather than to other ® rms in the same industry. In many industries, clustering, of course, remains important. The result of these two forces is the creation of new economic spaces within which new actors, urban economies, must make decisions about production and distribution; notions of periphery and centre must be rethought; and relationships of competition and co-operation take on new meaning and importance.
There is a consensus in China that industrialization, urbanization, globalization and information technology will enhance China’s urban competitiveness. We have developed a methodology for the analysis of urban competitiveness that we have applied to China’s 25 principal cities during three periods from 1990 through 2009. Our model uses data for 12 variables, to which we apply appropriate statistical techniques. We are able to examine the competitiveness of inland cities and those on the coast, how this has changed during the two decades of the study, the competitiveness of Mega Cities and of administrative centres, and the importance of each variable in explaining urban competitiveness and its development over time. This analysis will be of benefit to Chinese planners as they seek to enhance the competitiveness of China and its major cities in the future.
In this paper, the urban competitiveness of 23 major US cities is examined. The methodology allows the obtaining of results that are not available to other methodologies. Several determinants of urban competitiveness are identified that are statistically verifiable and it is possible to show how both these determinants and the competitiveness of 23 US urban economies have changed during the past two decades. The results are presented in a manner that will be of use to urban decision-makers and planners. This study follows up on two earlier studies of this topic.
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