THE CHALLENGE OF THE CITIES:The pressure of urbanism and the new strategies for competition
Since the year 2006, the World is “officially” urban. For the first time in the history of humanity, more people live in the urban zones than in the rural zones, and the projections tell us that more than 90 % of the countries are tending to become urban. It is a reality that has been anticipated for decades, but that recently in the last few years has become a worldwide concern, both regional and local. It is not for less. The cities are converting themselves into great protagonists of economic and social development. Various analysts now wonder if the economic development of the future is tied to the countries, or rather, to the cities, especially in countries that are in development. It is a relevant form of questioning, since based there upon will depend the strategies that are to be implemented at the local and national level.
PUBLISHED BY IDE-BUSINESS SCHOOL
WRITTEN BY: JULIO JOSE PRADO
TRANSLATED BY: DR MARCUS HUNTER CHAMPION
LIVING IN AN URBAN WORLD
Within 10 years, there will exist in the World 4.2 billion people living in urban areas, that is to say, almost 1 billion more people more than there actually are now. For the year 2030, the number will reach 4.9 billion people, that is to say, that more than 60 % of the population will live in urban areas.
Until the year 2030, all the population growth will come about almost exclusively in those countries of low and medium income, especially in those of Asia and Africa. Here emerges then the first troublesome global problem, which is due to the fact that the cities that will have to give shelter to all of these people presently have not been able to put together the necessary conditions in order to permit a sustainable development for its inhabitants. It is now projected that in the year 2010, some 75 % of the world’s urban population will be concentrated in countries that are in development.
In 1950, 44 % of the South American population lived in urban zones; actually the figure reached 82 %. In the case of Ecuador, the change has been more radical, since some 52 years ago 28 % of the population was urban, and now 63 % is urban. In our country urbanism woke up late, but has gathered impetus.
Upon an initial examination, the large cities seem to be part of the problem and not part of the solution, but the fact is that they can reap a profit from the growing urbanization. The economies of scale that are reached in the cities are high, and therefore important improvements can be obtained in recycling, energy distribution, transportation, education, etc… The growth of the cities is a phenomenon that we can not put the brakes on but it can be positive if we learn to take advantage of the opportunities and to minimize the threats. That demands upon a change of strategy and also possibly a change of mentality. For example, while recently in Ecuador, they have begun to implement strategies for national promotion (Brand-Country), in other places they are already opting to present a local content to promotions, in order to provide a simpler, homogenous and lasting message.
CITY BRANDING
Paris is romance, Milan is style, New York is energy, Washington is power, Lagos is corruption, Mexico is contamination, and Rio de Janeiro is diversion.
By now, whether it is on the positive side or on the negative side, the cities do have their identity. Some have been able to forge it throughout hundreds of years of their history; others have become to be known for their recent events, or for their natural qualities. The European cities have always been the vanguard when we are talking of “to market or to sell” their cities: Paris and London have completely regenerated since more than 100 years ago with that objective; Barcelona assumed a bohemian air thanks to Gaudí; Valencia is doing the same thanks to Antonio Calatrava; and Amsterdam combines the libertine spirit with its beautiful traditional arquitecture. Therefore, the concept of marketing as applied to the cities is nothing new; what really is new is “City Branding”, which is something like bestowing a brand name upon the cities.
Here emerges a logical question: can a city be reduced to the level of a product, and try to apply branding in the very same way in which it is done by a company? We could generate an extensive debate about this topic, but the evidence that we have analyzed for the present suggests that the answer is yes (some of the sources consulted are presented at the end). City branding, attempts to generate a distinctive identity. The cities need to possess a brand that will differentiate between them if that is what they want:
1. Cause their existence to be noted.
2. Cause the users of the city to have in their minds the unique characteristics of a city that they can differentiate from the rest.
3. Cause their resources or services to be consumed according to a planned order.
It is certain, we are talking about giving the cities identity, differentiation, personality, and therefore positioning. To go from theory to action is not anything very easy, because the cities are “evidently” more complex to manage than a product. For that reason we have tried to summarize with a few points, those prioritized actions that must be implemented within a city branding plan (of course, it is not an exhaustive list:
a) Identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the city, trying to be as detailed as possible and using the largest quantity of subdivisions possible.
b) Identification and evaluation of the particularities and distinguishing features of the city.
c) Utilization of market investigation in order to measure that gap between “how they see us” and “how they come to us”.
d) Development of a promotion strategy.
e) Development of synergies between the different actors of the city.
At a general level, any plan to discover and promote a positioning, must be coordinated from the highest local authorities (and including national authorities), but with the constant participation of the internal actors. In the cities of Ecuador, it can be particularly interesting to find differences on the side of cultural tourism, of adventure, historical, etc. and for that reason it is necessary to define with clarity:
• The urban politics,
• The strategies to satisfy the necessities of the chosen segments,
• The support of the cultural identity of the different zones,
• The role that the citizens will play,
• And in general, the critical factors of success that generate a competitive advantage in the city.
The cities can have many attributes, but there are times that the gap, between how a city is seen and how the potential users appraise it, is very large. And in some cases, for some sort of historic attachment, sentimental or ideological, the local governments commit errors at the moment of determining the positioning of the cities, and instead of correcting the error in a timely manner, they spend millions of dollars on publicity campaigns in order to convince potential users.
City branding demands that the real capacities of the cities be known, as well what in detail is the opinion of the people…once it becomes clear how they see us and how we want them to see us, a strategy of the “city brand” can be initiated; in Ecuador some cities are trying to do this in reverse…
Just as the countries, the cities that do not succeed in reaching a competitive advantage in opposition to others will remain lagging behind.
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