Driven by globalisation, we now live in hyper competitive global markets. This means markets not only for products and services but also for places and cities.
The global competition of cities is estimated to host 2,7 million towns, 3 thousand large cities and 455 large metropolitan areas with a population over one million. All of them compete in the struggle for attention and this is not limited to the contest between countries and cities. Even within cities there is a fierce competition between city centres versus neighbourhoods, shopping malls vs. traditional down towns, and so on.’
This competitive environment makes it important for places, no matter their size or composition, to clearly differentiate and to convey why they are relevant and valued options. Places have always competed with each other, but today the competitive environment is increasingly fierce, because of economic and cultural globalization and the increasing mobility of talents and capital.
At this year’s MIPIM in Cannes, Bearing was a special guest of Colliers International, a leader in global real estate, offering comprehensive services to investors, property owners, tenants and developers around the world.
Colliers organised an exclusive business lunch on March 13th for Mayors from the main cities in Poland on one of the big yachts in Cannes marina, and had invited Jorgen Eriksson from Bearing to host the lunch and share his experiences on Place Management, Place Branding and EU project development.
The theme of the lunch was “The Challenges In A Time Of Globalisation”, and Mr Eriksson led a discussion about challenges facing cities today in the open market in the EU, in hyper-competitive global environment and in times of rapid change. Mr Eriksson pointed out that these challenges include the ever-tougher competition for attracting investors and visitors, and attracting and keeping talented people.
Both “hard” topics such as infrastructure, waste management and building refurbishment, and “soft”, intangible topics such as place branding, development offices, funding and PPPs were discussed and the city Mayors asked many questions on Bearings experience of how the competition between cities can be managed through differentiation and specialisation.