Urban Competitiveness, U-City Strategies and the Development of Technological Niches in Songdo, South Korea

Author(s):  
Luís Carvalho

This chapter is concerned with the recursive conflation between the concept of city competitiveness in ICT and different versions of the “knowledge city” concept based on ICT and digitalization, often responsible for ambiguous political discourses and unclear local economic development strategies. To overcome this problem, the chapter distinguishes both concepts, indentifies links between them and illustrates a way through which national and local polices can support ICT-related city competitiveness and knowledge city strategies: the development of innovation arenas. The chapter illustrates these notions with the case of the on-going development of the Songdo district in Incheon (South Korea), its competences in ubiquitous computing and the connection between this technological prowess with the ambitions of creating one of the first and most advanced “u-cities” in the world.

2012 ◽  
pp. 833-852 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luís Carvalho

This chapter is concerned with the recursive conflation between the concept of city competitiveness in ICT and different versions of the “knowledge city” concept based on ICT and digitalization, often responsible for ambiguous political discourses and unclear local economic development strategies. To overcome this problem, the chapter distinguishes both concepts, indentifies links between them and illustrates a way through which national and local polices can support ICT-related city competitiveness and knowledge city strategies: the development of innovation arenas. The chapter illustrates these notions with the case of the on-going development of the Songdo district in Incheon (South Korea), its competences in ubiquitous computing and the connection between this technological prowess with the ambitions of creating one of the first and most advanced “u-cities” in the world.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akpeko Agbevade

Local level economic development has eluded Ghana since independence. This was because most policies were centralized. As a result, focus was shifted to local economic development. This article comparatively examined the local economic development strategies implemented in three of Ghana’s Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies. Using the mixed method and multiple case study approaches of research, the study sampled a total of 533 respondents across the three Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies and analyzed data using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. The study gleaned that the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies implemented similar local economic development strategies which could be categorized into contemporary local economic development and traditional local economic development approaches. Challenges such as inadequate finance, land tenure system, lack of modern equipment among others were identified. The provision of a central pool for financing local economic development, harmonization of locality development policies, de-politicization of local economic development policies, the adoption of change management strategies in Ghana’s local governance system, effective land tenure system are recommended for the success of local economic development in Ghana.


1994 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 218-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
John J. Accordino

This essay reviews recent evaluations of three of the most widely used state and local economic development strategies—traditional business recruitment, enterprise zones, and high-technology development. The studies do not succeed in their efforts to produce broadly generalizable findings that provide clear guidance to state and local policymakers and practitioners. Rather, they show that local conditions are responsible for the success or failure and level of net community benefits to be derived from any approach. Under the right conditions, each of the approaches described here might be appropriate.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Selina Phan ◽  
Evan Cleave ◽  
Godwin Arku

Although innovation is a major theme in current local economic development and planning, there is considerable uncertainty of what the concept specifically means, how it is measured, and how outcomes are identified. To date, no study has investigated this glaring gap in scholarship. To address this gap, we interviewed economic development practitioners across cities in Ontario to identify and clarify how they define, apply, and measure innovation within their cities’ economic development strategies. Practitioners indicate that innovation plays a key role in their cities’ economic development strategy, demonstrating the importance of the concept within local governments. Additionally, it is clear that local governments are key facilitators of innovation. While many cities claim to have some form of innovation in their economic development strategies, a wide range of framings and approaches to innovation exist. Cities may not be taking the most efficient approach to fostering local innovation, which is critical with the rise of knowledge-based economic development. Keywords cities; economic development; innovation; Ontario; policy; practitioners


2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 196-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xue Zhang ◽  
Mildred E. Warner ◽  
George C. Homsy

What role do local governments play in promoting sustainable economic development? This study uses a 2014 national survey to analyze the relationship between local environment and social equity motivations and the kinds of economic development strategies local governments pursue (business incentives or community economic development policies). Municipalities that pay more attention to environmental sustainability and social equity use higher levels of community economic development tools and lower levels of business incentives. These places are also more likely to have written economic development plans and involve more participants in the economic development process. In contrast, communities that use higher levels of business incentives have lower income and are more dependent on manufacturing employment. Other capacity measures do not differentiate types of economic development strategies used. This suggests that sustainable economic development strategies can be pursued by a broad array of communities, especially if the motivations driving their economic development policy include environment and equity goals.


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