The report explains how the ‘urban competitiveness’ of a city can be measured by identifying contributing characteristics then developing a set of indicators. It benchmarks the performance of the six Scottish cities (Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, Stirling and Inverness) against a number of provincial European cities and the English core cities. It also examines how Scottish cities have performed between 1996 and 2003, looking at demographic and employment trends, economic performance, educational attainment and connectivity with other cities.

The research adds six Scottish cities to the European Union’s Competitive European Cities Project. The initial list, proposed in the 1992 EU Islands of Innovation report, has been expanded to include cities that have performed well since the report’s publication. The UK government commissioned research into the comparative performance of English core cities. Following the publication of the resulting 1994 report, ‘Competitive European cities: where do the core cities stand?’, the Scottish Executive commissioned the European Institute of Urban Affairs to extend its analytical work to the leading Scottish cities.

The report develops a set of quantifiable indicators to identify the extent to which each of the study cities possess characteristics identified as contributing to urban competitiveness. It places the performance of selected Scottish and English cities in the European context. The area of the cities according to their administrative boundaries is defined, with the exceptions of Inverness and Stirling for which ward-based boundaries were adopted. The report uses some data based on the Nomenclature of Units for Terrestrial Statistics (NUTS) classification.

The work adds to the EU-initiated Competitive European Cities Project, but was neither commissioned nor carried out by an EU body.

In many respects Scotland’s cities are performing well. They tend to have high employment rates and a well-qualified workforce. Connectivity within the UK and with the rest of Europe is improving. Levels of GVA (gross value added) are high in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.  However, Scottish cities are smaller in terms of residents and employment than the successful European cities, and tend to have lower productivity and innovation.

European Institute for Urban Affairs, Liverpool John Moores University
Michael Parkinson (Professor of Urban Affairs), tel. +44 (0)151 2315172

02/03/2005

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Mary Hutchins and Michael Parkinson, European Institute for Urban Affairs, Liverpool John Moores University

research

Urban Policy > Economy knowledge & employment > Urban economy

Competitiveness