Cities Between Competitiveness and Cohesion: Discourses, Realities and Implementation – Introduction

This chapter provides an overview of the core themes explored in the book. It discusses some of the broader changes to the contexts within which urban and spatial policies are being developed. It outlines contrasting perspectives on contemporary rescaling processes, which force cities and regions to redefine their objectives, their means, their institutions and in the end themselves as socio-political units. Striving for increasing competitiveness has for long been underpinned by a neo-liberal ‘business approach’ to public policy, which, in turn has justified and legitimated substantial reductions in the welfare services provided by the public sector. However, it appears that countries with a minimal welfare service (the liberal welfare regime) have not done better in terms of economic growth, employment or general wealth than those with the most developed welfare model (the social democratic welfare regime). This in turn points to the problematic in the automatic opposition of competitiveness and social cohesion/welfare. During the last few years, the position of the public sector as mainly a question of being costly has changed to a major component of flexible competitiveness of a country, region or city. Thus, we have to reconsider the key terms of competitiveness and cohesion more as complementary concepts, which together can help us to understand and explain the success or failure of territorial policy.