Peter Karl Kresl

Competitiveness and the Urban Economy: Twenty-four Large US Metropolitan Areas

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. This increased exposure of urban economies to economic change and rationality has made it imperative that each local government pay more attention to the competitiveness of its tradable goods industries. While they did not examine, nor do they recommend, speci ® c policy initiatives at the level of the urban economy, Schmitz and Musyck (1994, p. 905) conclude in their study of industrial districts in Europe that:

Urban Competitiveness and US Metropolitan Centres

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.

The Urban Response to Internationalization

Three decades of accelerated trade and financial market liberalization have had significant and lasting impacts on the global economy and its component entities. In this volume, Peter Karl Kresl and Earl Fry examine the impacts of these profound changes on the economies of urban areas, and the responses to them. They provide a comprehensive treatment of the issues surrounding internationalization, such as urban transport, communication, and production. In addition, the authors explore the effects of internationalization on municipal foreign affairs, urban governance, inter-city relations and structures, and strategic planning.

China Urban Competitiveness in Industrialization: Based on the Panel Data of 25 Cities in China from 1990 to 2009

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.

Urban competitiveness : theory and practice

Daniele Ietri is Lecturer in the Faculty of Political Sciences at the University of Turin, Italy Peter Kresl is Charles P. Vaughan Chair in Economics at Bucknell University, USA

The Aging Population and the Competitiveness of Cities

While much of the current literature on the economic consequences of an aging population focuses on the negative aspects, this enlightening book argues that seniors can bring significant benefits – such as vitality and competitiveness – to an urban economy.

Nikolai Bukharin On Economic Imperialism

presence in Turkey with the comment: &dquo;And, of course, imperialism Is the highest stage of Capitalism!&dquo; An examination of recent writings on the theory of imperialism leads one quickly to the observation that the student’s reflex reference to Lenin’s Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism is not an isolated one.1 1 I would like, in this paper, to develop the proposition that there is a far preferable work, still within the Marxist vein, Nikolai Bukharin’s Imperialism and World Economy, which is almost invariably overlooked. But preparatory to this, some comments on

Creating Cities/Building Cities

For the past 150 years, architecture has been a significant tool in the hands of city planners and leaders. In Creating Cities/Building Cities, Peter Karl Kresl and Daniele Ietri illustrate how these planners and leaders have utilized architecture to achieve a variety of aims, influencing the situation, perception and competitiveness of their cities.

Trade and the Role of Cities: What Does Institutionalism Have to Offer Us?

There is a rough temporal concordance in the first writing on political economy, the evolution of the organization of production and distribution into the capitalist mode, and the rise of mercantilism. The state was the primary decision-maker in the Western economy of the seventeenth century and mercantilist writings stressed the role of the nation in organizing economic affairs. During the centuries that followed, economists kept their eyes focused on the nation. Adam Smith [1937] wrote of the wealth of nations, Friedrich List [1965] of the national system of political economy, and, most recently, Michael Porter [1990] of the competitive advantage of nations. Indeed the classic texts of the current century, those by such writers as Gottfried Haberler [1936], Jacob Viner [1937], Carl Iversen [1935], and James Meade [1951], all proclaim in their titles a focus on international trade or international capital movements.