MÜSİAD, which set out with the goal of structuring Türkiye’s brand cities, shared the important headings of its ‘Developing Cities with Their Unique Values’ project and how a road map should be followed at a press conference held at the Conrad İstanbul Bosphorus.
MÜSİAD President Abdurrahman Kaan explained as follows which strategies and methodologies they focus on in this project, which aims to shape Türkiye-oriented investment strategies: “We will structure Türkiye’s cities, each of which is suitable for development and growth with its own unique assets, with the philosophy of creating city brands. By determining the asset inventories of these cities, we will compare the suitable cities with their counterparts in the world. We will analyse how their counterparts in the world converted their own assets into high values and by implementing which action plans they reached this point.”
A new era is beginning in the world, and the concept of investment, like many other concepts, is changing shape. MÜSİAD President Abdurrahman Kaan, who said, “Unless we follow this change closely and establish a sound investment network worldwide, our deficit in direct investments will unfortunately also trigger the erosion of our national capital stock,” pointed out at this point the importance of adopting the logic of turning Türkiye into the investment market of the world and of establishing a widespread investment network across the globe.
“TÜRKİYE MUST ATTRACT MORE INVESTMENT”
Emphasizing that Türkiye has been losing ground in recent years, particularly in direct foreign investments, Abdurrahman Kaan commented: “Although 2020 locked down investments all over the world, while the reopening economic activities and trade unfortunately shifted towards developing countries, Türkiye is not receiving its due share of this. 70 percent of global direct investments went to developing countries. While direct investments in Asia amounted to approximately USD 476 billion, China became the country attracting the most direct investment in the world with USD 163 billion. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development published the investment inventory for 2020 at the beginning of this year. A decline of such a scale was last seen in 1990. Investments across the world decreased by %42, falling from USD 1.5 trillion to USD 859 billion. However, from the end of 2020 onwards and during 2021, investment increased its volume towards developing countries. According to the data of UNCTAD, which considers Türkiye to be in the ‘West Asia’ region, investments made in this region declined by 24 percent to USD 21 billion. Investments in Türkiye, on the other hand, recorded a decrease of 19 percent compared to 2019, and unfortunately the latest point it reached was USD 6.8 billion in 2020. In the final months of this year we unfortunately observe negative figures. In other words, we are watching investors withdraw from our country to a serious extent. The first of the two largest investments was the investment made by another investment firm, Yamma Investments, managed by the London-based investment companies Metric Capital Partners and its local partner Afendis Capital Partners. The other major investment was Qatar’s purchase of a 10 percent stake in Borsa İstanbul, which was also widely discussed in the public.”
THE MOST IMPORTANT COMPONENTS OF THE URBAN ECONOMY
Türkiye draws attention with its geopolitical location, the cultural heritage it has carried from the past to the present, its historical beauties, its production and export performance that stands out in many different sectors from agriculture to finance, from construction to automotive, from tourism to telecommunications, as well as with its cities that provide added value to the Turkish economy. According to research conducted across the world, a city’s acquisition of brand value accelerates the establishment of the urban economy. The most important criteria playing the leading role in this process are domestic and foreign investments… Stating that the urban economy examines the optimum harmony and output between the city, the individuals who make up that city and the fundamental characteristics of the city in the location choices and other economic, socio-economic and political-economic decision-making processes of households, companies and local administrations that bring economy and geography together, Kaan continued as follows: “Researching the local administrations in a city, urban planning, the factors that will lay the groundwork for the branding of that city, the production and marketing processes of these criteria, why individuals prefer to live in that city and the ways to increase these reasons is among the most important components of the urban economy.”
“WITH THE DEVELOPING CITIES WITH THEIR OWN UNIQUE VALUES’ PROJECT, WE ARE COMPARING OUR CITIES IN TÜRKİYE WITH THEIR COUNTERPARTS IN THE WORLD AND ESTABLISHING EVALUATION CRITERIA”
Stating that MÜSİAD has designed a special project precisely at this point within the framework of its mission of ‘developing cities with their unique values’, Abdurrahman Kaan said: “When this entire system is combined with the ‘Developing Cities with Their Own Unique Values’ project, which will encourage the production of high value-added assets and capital by processing regional economies and cities with their own values, the ‘investment systematics’ is completed. Channelling investment correctly is the second fundamental pillar of the investment network strategy… And this is only possible by putting urban economies back on their feet with the right investments and by ensuring that the contributions of cities to GNP follow a similar line when compared with their counterparts in the world. We are comparing our cities in Türkiye with their counterparts in the world and establishing evaluation criteria,” he said.
QUESTIONS SEEKING ANSWERS
According to Kaan, in this period when migration is rising as a serious socio-economic problem, answers must be found to 7 important questions in order to build an urban economy:
1-Why should individuals prefer to live in that city or to stay in that city?
2-What is the definition and the value of the city of birth for the young population?
3-What does the city promise to individuals?
4-What is the weight and the importance of the city in the national economy?
5-What are the contributions of the city to the country’s competitive advantage in world markets?
6-How are the pluses and minuses of the city defined when it is compared with its counterparts in the world?
7-What needs to be done for the city to reach the economic and social conditions of its counterparts in the world?
TWO BASIC MODELS STAND OUT IN BRANDING A CITY: ‘6-CRITERIA CITY PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT’ AND ‘THE MODEL OF COMPLEMENTARY CITIES ACCORDING TO THE GLOBAL CITY INDEX’
When branding a city, it is also necessary to decide with which model to proceed. Underlining that two basic models are followed at this point, namely the ‘6-Criteria City Performance Measurement’ and the ‘Model of Complementary Cities According to the Global City Index’, Abdurrahman Kaan commented: “According to the 6-Criteria City Performance Measurement, cities are classified into 6 separate categories, also called the 6P, and the unique qualities of cities are compared with one another through these criteria. A comparison is made between the assets held by cities in the same categories and the value they produce. The road map required for the city producing less value to reach the level of the other city holding the same assets is determined. At this point, London is an extremely successful example… When the criteria of city codes and the recognition of the city are taken into account, London is virtually an open buffet for tourists who want to discover the sophisticated tastes of the world… It is the focal point not only of entertainment but also of cultural tourism. At the same time, it is a colossal stock exchange where the capital of the world circulates… Apart from the 14-acre public area in Hudson Yards, New York also holds a very successful position with its public green areas where creative ideas are exhibited in all boroughs and with the residential zoning around these areas.”
“IN OUR OWN WORK AS MÜSİAD, WE BENEFITED FROM THE FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF THE TWO MODELS BOTH WHILE BUILDING THE INFRASTRUCTURE AND WHILE PREPARING OUR ACTION PLAN”
Emphasizing that in the ‘Model of Complementary Cities According to the Global City Index’ cities are divided into two groups as ‘excellent cities’ and ‘rapidly developing cities’, Kaan made the following statement: “Rapidly developing cities carry themselves up to a higher league within the framework of four sub-criteria. Excellent cities, on the other hand, group among themselves the cities in which 5 basic criteria such as the vitality of business life, human resources, information exchange, cultural experience and engagement in political life are most widely observed. Under these main headings, the city that is most likely and easiest to reach the main factor through various sub-criteria, that is, to be matched, is determined. In our own work as MÜSİAD, we benefited from the fundamental elements of these two models both while building the infrastructure and while preparing our action plan.”
6-CRITERIA CITY PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT
1- The promotion and recognition of the city (Promotin-Pm): It is determined how frequently the name of that city appears in search engines, in traditional media and in new-generation social media. Criteria such as the interest shown in the city by influencers, the frequency with which the cinema and music sectors use this city as a set, appearing in the top ranks in search results and the careful publication of visuals are taken into consideration.
2-The quality of public spaces (Place-Pc): The natural structure of the city and the harmony that its historical or modern architecture provides with the history of the city are analysed. Cleanliness, safety, park areas, greenery-landscaping in the streets and neighbourhoods and the crime rate in the city stand out as the basic components determining the quality of public spaces.
3-The output provided by the city (Product-Pd): The key institutions and organizations of the city (Strasbourg-EU Commission, Paris-MEDEF Headquarters, Newyork FED), the presence of world-renowned universities conducting important research, the infrastructure and connection points that will provide the connection of airports and transport networks with other cities, and other attractive elements such as museums, congress centres and well-known hotels are among the most important items determining the performance of the city.
4-The level of prosperity provided by the city (Prosperty-Ps): The support the city provides to GDP for the sound management of both its entrepreneurship and its capital components, and how many of the world’s 500 leading companies have investments in that city or were founded in that city, are examined.
5-Human resources (People-Po): Human resources is one of the most important building blocks determining the performance criterion of a city… It covers a wide spectrum from the level of culture to literacy, from the number of university students to the number of local residents settled in that province who have not migrated. Different parameters such as the number of criminals in the city, the birth rate, population density and qualified manpower are evaluated.
6-The codes of the city (Programming-Pg): The totality of criteria such as cultural and artistic activities, the history of the city and the traces of this history preserved in the city, the culinary culture of the city and its prevalence in the world, its famous restaurants and entertainment venues and the form of the nightlife of the city are defined as the codes identified with the city.
“WE WILL ENCOURAGE THE STATE TO MAKE THE RIGHT INVESTMENT IN THE RIGHT CITY”
Abdurrahman Kaan summarized the fundamental starting points and objectives of this project as follows: “We will structure Türkiye’s cities, each of which is suitable for development and growth with its own unique assets, with the philosophy of creating city brands. By determining the asset inventories of these cities, we will compare the suitable cities with their counterparts in the world. We will analyse how their counterparts in the world converted their own assets into high values and by implementing which action plans they reached this point. We will observe why our cities cannot convert similar inputs into a high GDP and determine what kind of action plan should be adopted at this point. And most importantly, we will encourage the state to make the right investment in the right city.”
“IN THE FUTURE, NOT STATES BUT CITIES WILL COMPETE”
Stating that positioning cities in the new world will be easier and more effective than positioning the state, Abdurrahman Kaan said: “In the future, not states but cities will compete. If we develop similar inputs with effective investment and business models, the local people’s and the entrepreneur’s comprehension and internalization of the fact that Aydın, for instance, will be positioned in the world economy as a city with the same added value as Bordeux, will in fact be a positive move in terms of embracing the city and accelerating the investments here. Although our cities possess the same assets as their examples in the world, because they cannot use their capacities by concentrating on the right fields, the expected output unfortunately cannot be achieved and the potential cannot be evaluated.”
WHAT KIND OF ROAD MAP WILL BE FOLLOWED?
Saying, “We will match the ‘Model of Complementary Cities According to the Global City Index’ with the cities we have determined in Türkiye that fit this framework,” Abdurrahman Kaan continued as follows: “We will align leading cities such as New York, Paris, London, Washington, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Melbourne and St. Petersburg, which stand out in categories such as business life, human resources, information exchange, cultural experience, political engagement, the richest 500, the non-native population, interest in TV news, museums, consulates and attachés, with our cities according to the fields in which they make a difference. Likewise, starting from how cities that move rapidly in certain fields according to the Global City Index, such as the individual level of prosperity, the economy, innovation, governance, stability, infrastructure, patents per capital, the quality of the bureaucracy, environmental performance, transparency, ease of doing business, private sector investments, direct investment, national income per capita and improvement in health services, make a difference, we will apply this model as well to the cities we have matched.”
ON WHAT COMMON GROUND DO THE CITIES OF TÜRKİYE AND THE WORLD MEET?
Kaan also gave innovative examples about the matches between the cities of Türkiye and the world: “For example, we matched our province of Afyon with the city of Beppu in Japan. The main source of income of Afyon is agriculture and livestock. Dry farming is carried out on %68 of the cultivated land and irrigated farming on %32. Afyon is among our few provinces in terms of hot springs and thermal spas. Thermal tourism activities continue throughout the year in the province. Beppu is also known for its hot springs. A typical large-scale tourism region, Beppu has the largest hot spring and thermal water production volume in Japan. Elazığ, on the other hand, is matched with the city of Graz in Austria. The important products manufactured in Elazığ are renewable energy, minerals, aquaculture products and agricultural and livestock products… The most important industrial fields of Graz are mechanical engineering, environmental technology, steel-girder construction, transport-related manufacturing, electrical engineering and electronics. Erzincan is matched with the city of Innsbruck in Austria. Both cities display parallels in many fields, from education to health, from transport to communication, from industry to logistics, from agriculture to tourism and from nature sports to culture. The common ground of Erzurum, which is matched with the city of Salzburg in Austria, is tourism-oriented activities… Isparta, which stands out as Türkiye’s rose and rose oil production centre, is matched at this point with the city of Angers in France, known as the flower city of Europe with its famous botanical gardens. İzmir, which has a significant share in every field of the tourism sector, from yacht tourism to congress tourism and from faith tourism to cruise tourism, has advantages similar to those of the city of Melbourne in Australia.”
YEREL 2023 WILL SUPPORT BRANDS WITH BRANDING POTENTIAL
Stating that another initiative supporting this project is the establishment of the Yerel 2023 brand, Kaan said: “This brand of ours, whose expansion is in the form of YER 23 El, aims, in line with our 2023 targets, to support our companies with branding potential and thereby to create first a national brand each and then, with the companies selected among them, an international brand each, and to export these brands, together with their brand added values, to world markets as an element of investment. Within the scope of our project, the screening and the qualification tests of our local elements and our members have begun.”