2. The Cities Are Back
The Policy Context
Cities and city regions are back: they are again and increasingly viewed as the drivers of national economic growth. The Scottish Executive’s Cities Review, National Planning Framework and A Smart, Successful Scotland all emphasise the increased importance of cities and city regions as units for economic planning. Edinburgh and Glasgow matter, according to the Cities Review, because of their distinctive assets of scale and diversity.
In England, the Core Cities and Northern Way initiatives have focused on how England’s major cities and city regions can make a greater contribution to national economic growth. This has taken place in the context of a new era of collaboration between cities, city regions and super-city regions. English cities are looking to move up the economic league table while, already ahead of many, the Oresund (Copenhagen/Malmo) region is also blazing a trail in terms of collaboration.
The Economic Context
Glasgow and Edinburgh’s recent economic performance suggests a degree of convergence between the two cities that makes this the right time for collaboration.
Recent evidence shows that:
- since 1995, half of Scotland’s extra jobs have been created in Glasgow and Edinburgh - the rate of increase was more than double that in the rest of Scotland 2
- from 1995-2004, Glasgow and Edinburgh’s GDP per capita grew at a rate double the rest of Scotland’s and 50 per cent above the UK average3
- Glasgow and Edinburgh account for most of Scotland’s wealth-generating ‘knowledge economy’ jobs, and ‘concentrated growth is positioning the Glasgow-Edinburgh axis as the core of the Scottish knowledge economy.4
2 Annual Business Inquiry 2003, Office for National Statistics
3 BAK Basel Economics International benchmarking Club (IBC). Data in $US 1997 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), 1995 prices
4 Local Futures (2004) The Geography of the Scottish Knowledge Economy
