… dicht gefolgt von Salzburg auf Platz 10!
Why smart cities?
Against the background of economic and technological changes caused by the globalization and the
integration process, cities in Europe face the challenge of combining competitiveness and sustainable urban development simultaneously. Very evidently, this challenge is likely to have an impact on issues of Urban
Quality such as housing, economy, culture, social and environmental conditions.
This project, however, does not deal with the leading European metropolises but with medium-sized cities
and their perspectives for development. Even though the vast majority of the urban population lives in such
cities, the main focus of urban research tends to be on the ‘global’ metropolises. As a result, the challenges
of medium-sized cities, which can be rather different, remain unexplored to a certain degree. Medium-sized
cities, which have to cope with competition of the larger metropolises on corresponding issues, appear to
be less well equipped in terms of critical mass, resources and organizing capacity.
… more
