Title: Place quality and urban competitiveness symbiosis? A position paper

Authors: Niusha Esmaeilpoorarabi; Tan Yigitcanlar; Mirko Guaralda

Addresses: School of Civil Engineering and Built Environment, Queensland University of Technology, 2 George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia ' School of Civil Engineering and Built Environment, Queensland University of Technology, 2 George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia ' School of Design, Queensland University of Technology, 2 George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia

Abstract: Urban agglomerations - where innovation and knowledge generation activities take place - are in a tough competition to become a major player in the global knowledge economy. It is claimed that soft measures - namely quality of life and place - help in fostering and attracting talent, and consequently draw investment to these urban localities. This paper aims to scrutinise the role of soft measures in supporting urban competitiveness through a critical review of the scholarly literature. The findings shed some light on whether there is a symbiotic relationship between place quality and urban competitiveness. The paper also points out directions for future investigations.

Keywords: urban competitiveness; knowledge-based development; urban development; KBUD; knowledge workers; knowledge industry; quality of life; QoL; quality of place; QoP; urban agglomerations; innovation; knowledge generation; talent; investment; literature review.

DOI: 10.1504/IJKBD.2016.075444

International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development, 2016 Vol.7 No.1, pp.4 - 21

Published online: 22 Mar 2016 *

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