Strong competition among cities in Europe has started. The “battlefield” for these cities has widened from the national to the international stage. This process of global integration is reorienting the political, social and economical urbanism. It generates the need in these cities for incorporating certain elements that directly define the European City of today. They seek for identity. The aim is to establish relations between the cities, based on communication and representation, to belong to the spatial structure of corporations, and to create public initiatives to attract foreign investment and tourism. A beautiful square or an impressive cathedral are not enough for the city today. To be recognized as "A European 21st century City" a big portfolio of projects needs to be assembled. This portfolio will address strategies of city developers and multinational companies rather than the rules of architects. We witness how at one and the same time similar elements appear in very distant European cities, transforming them enormously, positioning them on the European map, or giving them a new identity.

Yet the most radical changes are not taking place in capitals like Paris or Madrid, but in smaller and less important secondary cities that need to compete for their position in Europe. The last decades were the era of the megacity. Nevertheless, in the coming years we are going to talk much more about the smaller ones, as most of the urban populations live in these secondary cities. They have the possibility and opportunity to change. Paris will always be Paris. Today it is easier for Secondary Cities to build self-sustaining economies, independent of the big cities, as firms and workers look to avoid the problems of these major centres. Regional hubs, resort towns, provincial capitals…are booming!

All cities, consciously or unconsciously, try to collect them all. The more they obtain, the closer they get to being ideal cities. With the help of these glamorous urban elements, secondary cities can be successfully promoted and can become attractive locations for business and living. Such effect would never take place in A-list cities, where one element would never mean so much, as they already have strong and fixed identities. In the history of European Cities, we have always found some common urban elements that establish coherence among the different cities in every epoch: the agora, the market square, the gothic cathedrals, etc. It would also be possible to draw up an “urban shopping list” for each historical period.

To talk about a contemporary “European City” is to talk about these elements. Today the main differences between, and the similarities among, European cities are measeured by the non-existence or the presence of these elements. Sofia in Bulgaria feels very “European”, very familiar to many places such as Barcelona or Vienna. Bucharest reminds tone of Madrid or Paris, but there is a huge difference between Sofia and Bucharest and Barcelona, Madrid o Vienna. The “hardware” - the urban fabric - may look the same, recognizable… but the “software” – the urban shopping list – accounts for the differences. The collection of these elements determinates the European City of today. The hardware is static. The software activates the hardware and the construction of it. (On the other hand, cities in the Middle East, with very different hardware, like Dubai and Kuwait are getting the same software as our cities do. The Superstar architecture phenomenon is even getting more intense there. Ikea has opened stores in both Dubai and Kuwait, as have H&M and Zara, etc.). Within the rich diversity in the history of Europe, we were always able to find similar elements in these cities, within the limits of the territory, in each historical epoch. Each polis in the Greek Empire had an agora; the inhabitants of the cities in the Roman Empire entertained themselves in similarly designed theatres. We recognize a Roman theatre in Algeria or Italy, and a Gothic cathedral in Spain, France or Poland. This coherence remained throughout history and extended to the creation of city networks through roman roads, medieval sea routes, etc. Ikea has created a new activity centre in, for example, Zaragoza. Ryanair does not make the city more beautiful, but it is raising the number of visitors. Zaragoza is 2000 years old, but the Expo 2008 or the Superstar Architecture of today will present it to Europe for as if “the first time”. The “Urban Shopping List” is a tool for the planners to approach the city, and a tool for the cities to upgrade their urban condition. It reveals how close the city is to its ideal status.

STAR strategies + architecture
Delftsestraat 27
3013AE Rotterdam
The Netherlands
Phone: +31 (0) 10 240 01 71
star@s-t-a-r.nl
www.s-t-a-r.nl
Beatriz Ramo (Director), tel. +31 (0) 10 240 01 71

09/10/2007

Beatriz Ramo

research

Urban Policy > Economy knowledge & employment > Urban economy

Competitiveness