www.glasgowchamberofcommerce.com 21


the city didn’t really know what the rest of the world thought about it. A Preliminary Report, called T


owards


a Business Story for Glasgow, was undertaken as an ‘outside-in’ study. The report examined over 550 international benchmarks – which are the indexes, rankings and comparisons, such as the OECD and the World Bank – of global cities. The key question was: where is Glasgow in these studies? It was looking at comparison cities and where Glasgow out-performed or under-performed other cities. The Business of Cities’ algorithm, using a data set of all the rankings, was surprising for Glasgow and much more positive than previously thought. Indeed, Glasgow, as a city, was doing well. “What we discovered, in terms of


performance, is that the city is actually doing much better than people in Glasgow might think. Glaswegians are very proud of the city but don’t necessarily know how well it is doing on a comparative basis.” These findings are helping to build a compelling business story for Glasgow.


“This business story is not yet well understood. When we looked at Glasgow comparing the visitor, student, resident and business stories, it was very clear that the city has a much stronger identity worldwide on its visitor, student, and resident stories but a much weaker level of understanding for its business story.” So Glasgow was doing much better than most people thought but the business story was not as clear. “Now it is a matter of helping


Glasgow understand how good it is, so it can build confidence and really try to develop the business story so it can complement the other aspects.” Professor Clark says there are plenty


of quirky statistics about the number of baristas and the hipster state of the city, but the underlying plus-factors were the right demographics, its re- urbanisation, a supply of affordable housing, and the rapid up-skilling of the workforce. “Glasgow was deliberately depopulated in the Fifties and Sixties by various policies, and this is beginning to be naturally


reversed. This is very, very important for Glasgow: to have a growing population, which is increasing its skills base, is a hallmark of a successful city. It’s a critical ingredient for being more successful in the future because it provides you with the skilled labour and the talent.” According to Professor Clark, this


scale to attract business and jobs, coupled with the density to attract institutions and amenities, is critical. Comparing Glasgow against a cohort of cities of similar sizes, it comes out strongly with its population acceleration. “What’s not to like? A growing population, rising in skills all of the time. Very successful universities that are good at turning raw talent into refined talent. “The city has space, both in its city


centre and along its water-front, to accommodate good housing for a larger population and all the jobs and other amenities that a larger population would want to enjoy. This is fantastic and a way a city can really prosper.”


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