Milan's Competitiveness
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Milan’s Competitiveness Milan case study Professor Greg Clark CBE Dr Tim Moonen and Jake Nunley April 2018 ii | Milan’s Competitiveness About ULI The Urban Land Institute is a global, The extraordinary impact that ULI makes on Drawing on the work of its members, the member-driven organization comprising more land use decision making is based on its Institute recognizes and shares best practices than 40,000 real estate and urban members sharing expertise on a variety of in urban design and development for the development professionals dedicated to factors affecting the built environment, benefit of communities around the globe. advancing the Institute’s mission of providing including urbanization, demographic and leadership in the responsible use of land and population changes, new economic drivers, More information is available at uli.org. in creating and sustaining thriving communities technology advancements, and environmental Follow ULI on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, worldwide. concerns. and Instagram. ULI’s interdisciplinary membership represents Peer-to-peer learning is achieved through the ULI has been active in Europe since the early all aspects of the industry, including developers, knowledge shared by members at thousands of 1990s and today has more than 3,000 property owners, investors, architects, urban convenings each year that reinforce ULI’s members across 27 countries. The Institute planners, public officials, real estate brokers, position as a global authority on land use and has a particularly strong presence in the major appraisers, attorneys, engineers, financiers, and real estate. In 2017 alone, more than 1,900 Europe real estate markets of the UK, Germany, academics. Established in 1936, the Institute events were held in about 290 cities around France, and the Netherlands, but is also active has a presence in the Americas, Europe, and the world. in emerging markets such as Turkey and Poland. Asia Pacific regions, with members in 76 countries. Copyright ©2018 by the Urban Land Institute. ULI Europe. All rights reserved. No part of this report may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the publisher. ULI has sought copyright permission for all images and tables. Front cover image: Milan skyline with modern skyscapers. (Scallger/iStock) Urban Land Institute 50 Liverpool Street Tel: +44 (0)20 7487 9570 London Email: [email protected] EC2M 7PY Web: www.europe.uli.org United Kingdom iii | Milan’s Competitiveness Contents Acknowledgements iv Executive Summary 1 Milan: Past and Present 4 Milan City Competitiveness 7 Governance framework 7 Competitive climate 10 Agglomeration 12 Attractiveness to talent 14 Recommendations 17 Contributors 18 References 19 iv | Milan’s Competitiveness Acknowledgements The preparation of this report was supported by a group of ULI Europe and ULI Italy staff and members, including: Lisette van Doorn, Chief Executive Officer, ULI Europe Elizabeth Rapoport, Content Director, ULI Europe Amanprit Arnold, Content Manager, ULI Europe The authors wish to thank all those in Milan and Turin who contributed to the research through participation in workshops and interviews in autumn 2017, as well as the ULI Italy Executive Committee and staff team. A list of those who gave exceptional assistance to the development of this report and the case studies is on page 18. Author Professor Greg Clark CBE, Senior Fellow, ULI Europe Dr Tim Moonen, Director, The Business of Cities Jake Nunley, Research Associate, The Business of Cities About this case study This case study of Milan forms part of a ULI project titled Milan and Turin: Competitiveness of Italy’s great northern cities. The information presented includes: • desk research of (a) academic books, chapters, and articles about Turin’s urban economy; (b) independent reports by think tanks, universities, observatories, and real estate organisations; and (c) media commentary about the city since 2015; • a review of Milan against recognised measures of international performance; • interviews with Italian urban specialists; and • workshops in Milan and Turin on September 18, 2017, with ULI members and other public and private sector leaders. The case studies of Milan and Turin, and the summary report, are designed to be read together. 1 | Milan’s Competitiveness 1 Executive Summary Figure 1: Competitiveness framework Governance framework Competitive climate Agglomeration Attractiveness to talent Vision, strategy, and Costs and business Size and scale of internal Human capital, liveability, and coordination investment market opportunity Land use, planning system, Tax and regulatory framework Clustered specialisations Innovation, technology, and density and enterprise Political risks Institutional engagement Infrastructure and services Brand, identity, and destination This case study reviews Milan’s competitiveness Competitive city or productive Milan’s formal territorial governance system is using a 12-point framework that consists of region? notoriously complex. However, civil society is four main elements (see figures 1 and 2): very active, and civic and business leaders Milan is commonly compared with and have proved their ability to create teams and measured against other urban economies at • governance framework mount attractive projects focused on particular a city level (population: 1.3 million), but its true • competitive climate opportunities, including Expo 2015 and the scale and dynamism fundamentally rest on its • agglomeration; and recent campaign to host the European wider region – Grande Milano, with a • attractiveness to talent Medicines Agency. Metropolitan governance population of 8 million. reforms may eventually bear fruit and It summarises Milan’s strengths and the threats visionary strategic planning may yet be Grande Milano is highly diversified, to its competitiveness, and provides possible to support Milan’s competitiveness, complementing the inner city’s strengths in recommendations for how to improve its but the pace of new projects planned by the finance, consulting, media, and fashion with competitiveness. private sector is helping create a new fabric of innovative clusters in agricultural cross-border, public/private co-operation that is technology, agrifood, aerospace, clean Milan’s competitiveness and confidence have moving the region forwards. technology, energy, life sciences, medical appreciably recovered over the past five years. instruments, and smart technologies. The After a period of inertia when other European In international measures, Milan’s quality of regional dimension of competitiveness also cities moved ahead of Milan, Italy’s capital of life continues to lag behind that of other global emcompasses a very high-quality and finance, commerce, and design has cities because of such factors as pollution and globally competitive university system, several benefited from improved city government and congestion from the outskirts to center. But the international airports, and numerous small firms a succession of public/private projects that are city also offers many less tangible lifestyle ben- and industrial clusters of niche production. now bearing fruit. As part of this renaissance, efits – not always recognised in comparative The economic region is a comparative global Milan is enjoying a large influx of talent and a studies but important to its appeal – including powerhouse. resurgent visitor economy, and is rebuilding and access to beautiful and natural surroundings, restating the connection with its DNA of design, gastronomy, connectivity to other centres, and knowledge, innovation, and culture. many housing and location options for families. 2 | Milan and Turin: Competitiveness of Italy’s great northern cities Figure 2: Illustrative evaluation of City of Milan according to 12 competitiveness criteria GOVERNANCE COMPETITIVE FRAMEWORK Vision, Political CLIMATE strategy and risks , coordination Tax and regulatory framework Land use planningand densitysystem Milan region performance Costs and investment business Infrastructureand services Size and scale of internal market Brand, identity and destination specialisationsClustered Innovation, techology and Institutional enterprise engagement Human capital, ATTRACTIVENESS liveability and AGGLOMERATION opportunity TO TALENT Note: The wider Milan region is represented by the dotted lines. ‘Average’ represents the performance of Milan’s peer cities – Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, Madrid, Rome, Stockholm, and Vienna. Milan’s industrial and design districts – The most recent cycle of progress means that Brera, Isola, Lambrate, Tortona, and Certosa – the city of Milan performs well in terms of illustrate the way the city is developing a infrastructure, and its improved leadership high-tech, advanced manufacturing identity means the city’s land use and density are and grounding it in well-defined districts and increasingly competitive. It also has a strong neighbourhoods. The current cycle of land, brand, offers economic opportunity, and has a transport, and development projects offers big greater appeal to talent than the wider region. new opportunities to create highly desirable Conversely, it is at the regional scale that the urban locations for talent and innovation. agglomeration effects become much more visible. However, the region needs a series of Milan’s competitive performance depends coordinated