City as a Growth Platform: Responses of the Cities of Helsinki Metropolitan Area to Global Digital Economy

Abstract

The aim of this article is to shed light on how ongoing structural change towards the global digital economy condition urban economic development. Discussion starts with a brief reference to the growth machine thesis and its emphasis on the interests of local land and real estate owners. This theory serves as a contrasting point for the second element of our framework, the platform economy, which brings digital platforms and the transnational capitalist class into the picture. The transition from the urban growth machines of the industrial age to the digital growth platforms of the information age imply a radical change in the context of urban economic development. On this basis, we discuss cities’ need to adjust their growth strategies to the conditions of the emerging platform economy. Our illustrative case is the capital region of Finland. We interviewed officials and experts who hold key positions in the design of economic development policy in the three largest cities of this area. The empirical results show that the platform economy is rather vaguely conceptualized, and its challenges are ambiguously addressed. Cities have, however, started to adopt platform and ecosystem thinking in their strategies and established urban innovation platforms, talent and start-up attraction programs, and open data initiatives that reflect the gradual adoption of platform logic in urban economic development.

The Influence of Local Economic Conditions on Start-Ups and Local Open Innovation System

“…In the context of previous research conducted on start-ups, the obtained results indicate a low level of development of this type of entrepreneurship in Poland as an emerging economy, which may now and in the future hinder the growth of innovativeness because, as emphasized in the introduction, it is an important determining factor of urban and national economic development [14][15][16][17]. Poor interest in start-ups may also reduce the process of knowledge transfer and diffusion in cities, and thus, slow down their technological and social progress.…”

“…Cities themselves, in practice, are increasingly integrating entrepreneurship issues into their strategies and actively engaging in the creation of open innovation through talent attraction, start-up development programs and open data initiatives that reflect the gradual adoption of a platform logic of collaboration in urban economic development [14,15]. In addition, the research suggests that if strengthening open innovation by SMEs or start-ups is developed in a city or government strategy, it will provide a source for the development of knowledge-based urbanization and further economic growth of the city, as well as the resources involved in the innovation creation process [16,17].…”

Assessing the Impact of the Digital Economy on Green Total Factor Energy Efficiency in the Post-COVID-19 Era

“…Digital economy can indirectly affect GTFEE by influencing the level of urbanization, which is conducive to the sustainable development of cities (Alizadeh et al, 2017). In terms of digital city construction, the digital economy structure needs to rely on the new generation of information technology industries, mainly the Internet of Things, big data, mobile Internet, and cloud computing, and the new material industries, mainly new energy materials and information materials, which are all technology-intensive and low energy consumption industries (Anttiroiko et al, 2020;Ivanenko et al, 2020). Meanwhile, a higher level of urbanization means better infrastructure construction.…”

Local Governance Platforms: Roles and Relations of City Governments, Citizens, and Businesses

“…Citizens’ self-organization and their views and skills—together with their multiple roles as voters, residents, and service users—have been recognized as an essential potential to be channeled through urban platforms (Bollier, 2016). Lastly, we will consider the role of companies, whose role in urban platform governance is interesting, as platform and ecosystem thinking are gradually extending to local business development (Anttiroiko et al, 2020).…”