[warning – non story] is your city competitive

What makes for a competitive city in today's global economy? That's what an OPEC report released Thursday set to find out. The report stresses that, while there is no ‘one size fits all' policy for cities, there are ideas that can be tailored to meet specific needs. These include:

• a flexible vision that fosters competitiveness with information and transportation links between universities, researchers, technicians, and manufacturers

• “livable” cities with high-quality infrastructure, green spaces, and inner city residential areas and public projects, which contribute to economic success by attracting foreign investors as well as professionals and tourists

• leadership from the national government to encourage reform, government at the metro level and local networks that include non-governmental actors and businesses which can deal with social tensions and market realities

• cities can diversify tax revenues with ‘smart taxes' such as congestion charges and use public-private partnerships to raise money for public projects. Equalization payments between metropolitan regions can also sometimes be effective

Are you feeling the same sense of disappointment as me? Seems to me they’re stating the bleeding obvious here and where’s the list of cities? Also, I wonder how much the OPEC report cost in terms of money and free lunches or is that just being cynical?