The winning cities of the future are the ones that are able to attract talent, as ‘soft’ factors like atmosphere become as important as infrastructure, housing and job opportunities, panelists agreed at the PropertyEU Investing in European Cities briefing at EXPO REAL on Wednesday.
‘Quality of life is becoming an ever more crucial factor,’ said Damian Harrington, head of EMEA research, Colliers International. ‘Cities must be attractive places to live in.’
Students and employees are increasingly mobile and happy to travel, said Jorick Beijer, foundation manager, The Class of 2020: ‘They go to a city for atmosphere and quality of life, then the jobs will follow.’
Affordability and availability of housing is a crucial factor, which explains the increasing popularity of ‘new’ cities like Helsinki in Europe and the regional cities in the UK, like Bristol, Edinburgh and Manchester, which are becoming real alternatives to London.
At the moment there is a huge imbalance in Europe, with London receiving the most investment, followed by Paris, and all others at a considerable distance. Berlin is third with less than half of the investments Paris receives. But other cities are coming up fast, so Harrington’s advice to investors was to be ahead of the game instead of playing catch-up: that means spotting the opportunities, indentifying potential emerging cities or new areas of interest in established cities and focusing on them.
