PO/US 368 - The Entrepreneurial City: Strategies of Urban Governance

Cities not only welcome entrepreneurs from various sectors, but also work as entrepreneurs by marketing specific features and places, privatizing public goods and services, creating public-private partnerships, and taking financial risks. The main goals of the “entrepreneurial city” model, since the mid-1980s, are to promote the city as a business location, increase municipal revenues, reduce fixed costs, decrease unemployment rates, and eventually remain competitive in the global system. Within this structural framework, tourism, research and innovation, cultural industries, and migrant economies have become important factors and gained impetus for urban development strategies. To examine the spatial manifestations of the entrepreneurial city, this interdisciplinary course analyses different socio-economic, political, and cultural conditions and their actors in different urban contexts.

Deriving from the experience of Milan, the course brings in case studies from different parts of the world keeping in mind the following questions: What are the features of an “entrepreneurial city”? Can any city implement entrepreneurial practices? Is entrepreneurial urban governance a solution to local, national, regional, and global crises? What are the spatial consequences of this form of governance? Who are the main actors in an entrepreneurial city? Throughout the course, the central points of interest include, but are not limited to, creative industries, tourism, migrant entrepreneurship, urban regeneration, place-marketing, mega-projects, smart cities, shrinking cities, and local economic growth. Comparing different concepts and urban governance practices, the course aims to generate a critical discussion platform for the future development of entrepreneurial cities.