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Inner city centers not only provide opportunities for shopping, dining, and entertainment, but with their lively atmosphere and other vital attributes, also create attractive destinations for residents and tourists alike. However, inner city retailing, potentially the most important reason to visit an inner city, is facing serious competition from e-commerce and out-of-town shopping malls. Dying inner city centers have become a severe issue in recent years, worldwide. To counteract this devastating trend and ensure the vitality and viability of inner city centers, stakeholders from the public and private sectors regularly join their forces in initiatives to strengthen urban structures. However, academic insights into the contribution of retailing on perceived city attractiveness remain sparse. Relying on an extensive data set that combines survey and observational data, the authors are able to quantify a variety of inner city characteristics, ranging from its store and service provider portfolio to its ambience and accessibility, and measure their association with its perceived attractiveness. They show that a city's portfolio of retail stores is not only related to people's perceptions of the city's overall attractiveness but also perceptions of its ambience. However, not all retail categories contribute the same way; while the presence of clothing stores or booksellers is strongly associated with cities' ambience as well as attractiveness, other retail categories such as optometrists or electronics stores are negatively associated with consumers' inner city perceptions. Importantly, these relationships also depend on the size of the focal city. Based on their results, the authors provide important managerial and societal implications on how to leverage the local retailing environment to improve inner city attractiveness. For example, the results may inform (local) governments on which sectors to subsidize in order to attract those store and service provider categories that benefit inner city attractiveness.

This chapter focuses on the competitive outcomes of present-day smart cities. It explores how cities can leverage economic and internal advancements to gain a competitive edge over other cities, and attract and retain both internal and external users. In the 21st century, cities engage in a global competition to attract citizens and businesses alike. The attractiveness and competitiveness of cities are directly linked to their ability to offer essential services that support growth opportunities, build economic value, and establish a competitive differentiation. Cities with advanced and innovative environments are more likely to maintain leading positions in an increasingly globalized world. Building upon the previous discussions on urban and economic outcomes, this chapter sheds light on the competitive outcomes of smart cities and the implications of global competition and city attractiveness for internal and external users. This chapter begins by examining the role of marketing innovation and internationalization in driving smart city development and how urban ecosystems and digital technologies can enhance city attractiveness. It emphasizes the importance of being a smart destination for both internal and external users and how it can empower and shape interactions with citizens, talent, companies, and tourists. Additionally, this chapter analyzes the geographical differences in smart city strategies and explores the competitive landscape of smart cities within and across nations. Finally, it discusses the limitations of competitive urbanism, along with the challenges and future prospects of smart city development. This analysis is supported by data and published works from international journals. Overall, this chapter aims to comprehensively understand how cities can leverage smart technology and strategies to enhance their national and global positioning.

French municipalities are in charge of a large number of local public services and benefit from a good, even if decreasing, financial autonomy. They have been until recently and despite the 2008 crisis, in a good financial situation supported by stable tax revenues and protective national policies. But they are now weakened by strong cuts in their main operating grant operated from 2015.

Through a case study, this chapter attempts to better understand French municipalities’ patterns of financial resilience in times of austerity. Interviews have been driven in four middle size municipalities in various financial situation, to understand the effects of the crisis on their vulnerability and the influence of their financial and organisational capacities on their resilience patterns.

The study shows that all four municipalities enhanced their responsiveness following the 2015 cut in grants. The latter appeared as a major shock that prompts them to change their behaviours and strengthen their resilience. But municipalities took up different paths of resilience, building up or investing in different anticipatory and coping capacities. Buffering capacities, such as cost cuts, were present in all cases to cope with shocks. Conversely, adapting and transforming capacities were not as prevalent. The pro-active resilient municipality relies on a mix of capacities. But three out of four cases show patterns of financial resilience that leave them insufficiently prepared for future shocks. This research shows the necessity to develop and constantly maintain anticipatory and coping capacities that are suitable for tackling the municipalities’ specific vulnerability sources.

This chapter examines the transition from traditional cities to smart cities, with a focus on integrating digital technologies, data, and services into the urban environment. The concept of a smart city aims to create urban spaces that are more efficient, sustainable, and livable by fostering collaboration among stakeholders such as government, businesses, and citizens. This chapter highlights that this transformation encompasses not only technological advancements but also significant social, cultural, and economic implications. It emphasizes the need to rethink urban governance, citizen engagement, and public service delivery. By leveraging data for decision-making, smart city technologies enable cities to optimize urban services and streamline internal operations. Strategically, smart city development aims to attract businesses, investors, and visitors through improved services, sustainability, and accessibility. This chapter also explores how smart cities can enhance their competitiveness by promoting innovation, entrepreneurship, and a dynamic environment for residents and tourists. Moreover, it discusses how digital technologies enable smart cities to offer personalized and interactive experiences to visitors. Overall, this chapter provides a comprehensive perspective on the potential benefits and opportunities arising from smart city transformations, encompassing efficiency, sustainability, economic growth, and enhanced visitor experiences. It serves as a valuable resource for interpreting and understanding various aspects of the book.

This chapter examines the six smart city dimensions that serve as pillars in smart city projects. These dimensions are crucial in the development and evaluation of smart city initiatives, representing key areas for consideration. This chapter offers a detailed analysis of the smart city ecosystem, focusing on the governance, environment, people, living, mobility, and economy dimensions. It challenges the prevailing media portrayal of the smart city strategy and engages in the current academic debate surrounding these dimensions. This chapter defines, discusses, and explains each dimension, incorporating case studies from cities such as Copenhagen, San Francisco, Lisbon, and Barcelona. It also includes interviews and factual data to highlight the internal implementation and objectives of the smart city within each dimension. This chapter provides a comprehensive understanding of the smart city ecosystem, its implementation, and the potential benefits and challenges associated with each dimension.

Purpose – Urban transport policies are about to undergo major changes. In cities where, a few years ago, highway projects were favoured (i.e. the first stage of accessibility), other priorities are taking shape. Many large cities have opted for the development of public transit (i.e. the second stage of accessibility). Car travel would seem no longer to have any priority, despite the fact that it still accounts for bulk of transportation.

Methodology – This chapter sheds light on these new tendencies by referring to the long-established concept of accessibility, and especially gravity-based accessibility, which is enjoying a new lease of life. Introducing accessibility measures within GIS tools helps us to understand why public policies are now addressing new challenges.

Findings – The third stage of accessibility is characterised by a lower role given to individual time gains. A new approach is coming that pursues the collective interest by optimising land use.

Research limitations/implications – In order to have the best understanding of what is at stake within the third stage of accessibility; researchers have to propose map-based tools showing the concrete impacts of accessibility changes.

Practical and social implications – Those maps can show that in some cases, even transit speed can lead to some perverse effects like urban dispersion, longer distances commuted and even increased travel time budget.

Originality – Sustainability issues are underlining the fact that accessibility improvements have to be obtained rather by denser catchment areas of trips than by increasing the size of the catchment areas.

The conflict between institutionalism and neoclassicism in the 20th century has been investigated by scholars over the years. Many of them believe that in the postwar period, neoclassicism triumphed while institutionalism largely disappeared. The present chapter takes a very different view. The late 20th century represents a broad synthesis of neoclassical and institutional themes in a methodology we call pragmatic empiricism. That approach combines the mathematical model building and theoretical formalism of neoclassical economics with the institutional economist’s data-driven statistical analysis and concern for developing institutional forms. We use as a case study the history of American locational economics from the 1930s to the present. The mixing of institutional and neoclassical themes is quite evident in the work of three young scholars at Harvard who effectively initiated American locational economics. In the postwar period, we find a series of outstanding, well-published papers that capture the spirit of the “founders.” These papers do use more modeling, but they also focus on major institutional developments. A broader review of locational works is consistent with the pragmatic empiricism label. The history of locational economics supports the claim that institutionalism, far from disappearing, continues to provide fundamental questions and techniques for modern pragmatic empiricism.

Vienna, Austria’s capital, is one of the most liveable cities worldwide and has undertaken various efforts to foster the attractiveness of walking. Although the share of walking in Vienna is already high, the city aims to further increase the level of walking trips, combined with the ambitious goal of 80 per cent of Eco mobility by the year 2025. In recent years walking has been integrated into different strategies and plans (such as Vienna’s smart City Framework Strategy, Urban Development Plan 2025 and Strategy Paper Pedestrian Traffic). In addition, the City of Vienna has instituted the Mobility Agency for Vienna with its own officers for walking and cycling. Infrastructure measures were complemented by strong communication activities. 2015 was declared as the ‘Year of Walking’, with a wide range of events, products and services to promote walking. To supplement these activities, a personalised travel planning campaign was integrated to encourage people to replace short car trips with active travel modes. The ‘Year of Walking’ 2015 campaign increased the awareness about the benefits of walking among citizens and improved Vienna’s image as a city suitable for walking. The latest modal split numbers and monitoring activities show the success of the integrated approach by an increase of walking trips. As walking has positive impacts on people’s health and the development of a healthier and more liveable urban environment, the City of Vienna is on the right path to foster a sustainable urban mobility lifestyle and quality of life for its citizens.