The Competitiveness Compulsion

Abstract

‘Competitive’ is something many cities strive to be today, and for many policymakers this seems to be a ‘natural’ priority. A compulsion to compete seems to have been created by an industry of benchmarking, ranking and ‘best practices’ which surrounds urban governance today, and this influences policy-makers in cities in ways which are often diffuse and indirect. It is often assumed that wider trends, external influences and other levels of governance are pushing a neoliberal competitive discourse upon cities, and whilst this may partly be the case, this paper investigates the mechanisms within local government itself which contribute to reproducing the focus on being competitive. Through a case study of a small city in Denmark, this paper discusses the discourse of competitiveness, the lack of reflection on this discourse which exists amongst policy-makers, and the practices which promote a focus on competitiveness within the local government. In this case, these practices include comparisons and rankings of the city alongside other places in the local region, study tours for inspiration from projects in (often larger) cities, a focus on particular modes of urban development which prioritise ‘creative’ people and the development of ‘experiences’, and a general focus within the local government on striving to ‘be the best’ in a variety of areas. Through a combination of interviews with local policy-makers and document analysis of recent policies and plans, it will be investigated how these practices and more create a diffuse and indirect compulsion to compete, resulting in the institutionalisation of the vision of the ‘competitive city’.