Title: Measuring competitiveness of cities: Turkish experience

Authors: Melih Bulu

Addresses: Management Department, Istanbul Sehir University, Altunizade Mah., Kusbakisi Cd., No:27, 34662, Uskudar, Istanbul, Turkey

Abstract: As cities were becoming the centre of economic production, people migrated to cities in the developed world in the 20th century. Globalisation initiated a new trend for cities in the 21st century. Increasing effect of neoliberal policies after the 80s caused significant changes of cities approach to their domestic economic production capabilities. Today, cities are competing for attracting people who have skill and investment capability as well as other resources. Leaders of the cities are working to make their cities more competitive among their rivals whereas the leaders of the countries are working for making the cities of their country more competitive. While doing this, successful leaders use knowledge-based urban development tools. Therefore, the studies providing knowledge regarding to comparison of cities are finding application area. In this study, the development process of City Competitiveness Index (CCI) of Turkey was discussed. The analysis of the project showed that CCI was helpful mostly for investors and policy makers as well as local decision-makers. Especially, policy makers had a very useful tool for making knowledge-based decisions for Turkish cities.

Keywords: city competitiveness; competitiveness measurement; Turkish cities; city competitiveness index; CCI; knowledge-based competitiveness; Turkey; urban development; knowledge-based development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJKBD.2011.042522

International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development, 2011 Vol.2 No.3, pp.267 - 281

Received: 07 Dec 2010
Accepted: 21 Mar 2011
Published online: 28 Nov 2014 *

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