During our presence at MIPIM 2010 we saw a lot of cities and area’s present themselves as a Metropolis. When can we mark a city as a Metropolis? I think the Wikipedia entry helps:
A metropolis is a big city, in most cases with over half a million inhabitants in the city proper, and with a population of at least one million living in its urban agglomeration Big cities belonging to a larger urban agglomeration, but which are not the core of that agglomeration, are not generally considered a metropolis but a part of it. A metropolis is usually a significant economic, politicalcultural center for some country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections and communications.
Why do you want to present yourself as a Metropolis? Because it helps to attract investors!
Standard criteria in Location Strategy are Infrastructure, available workforce, available education and an economy that wants to buy or use your products. Without further investigation, you may expect these criteria to be met in a Metropolis. Of course we advise to properly investigate at the FDI Marketplace
What we considered a new trend is that some city’s, formerly competing to attractinvestors, joined forces and presented themselves as a Metropolis, consisting of various agglomerations and the open space in between was advertised as green area, adding to the attractiveness of living there. Some even had a crossing border component (eg Copenhagen-Malmo-Gothenburg). Now the challenge lies in not only presenting several cities as one Metropolis, but also acting like one; is there a single point of contact where investors get the needed information and later the needed assistance to set up a new location? Investors prefer one-stop-shopping, certainly in the location analysis and descision phase.
