Cities are like brands – they need to have a plan, market, grow, and innovate. Cities can’t just plan and grow and expect investment, residents and tourists to appear. Just getting by can work for some cities such as Paris, Rome or Venice or other world-renown tourist cities – if that is the one of the main industries and it keeps the city going it might work. But for other cities around the world, where the competition internally within the country and externally, where other global cities are growing and innovating it becomes very important for the city to understand their competition and plan, market, grow and innovate. Â I am purely talking from an economic and investment point of view. I understand that cities aren’t just economic centres that generate wealth. A City is where people live, where art is created, where sport is played, where people fall in love, where people visit, where trees breathe and where life ceases these are all important elements of a city but for this post I am particularly talking about a city as economic and business brand – not a tourist or lifestyle brand.
Currently, the east coast of China has been developing at a extraordinarily rate since the early 1980’s and some are reaching a stage where its time to review what has occurred what have they learned what has worked in there city and where has the competition beat them. Many cities are starting to compete for the same talent, the same investment dollars and new businesses. In particular its becoming a fight between the Pearl River Delta(PRD), Yangtze River Delta(YRD) and Bohai Economic Rim(BER). The PRD has manufacturing and some services, YRD is the transiting to services (financial, law, business development & tech) and the BER is the government, and tech. These regions and cities require management talent – something that is developing in China but is often the reason that some business sectors don’t perform as expected because the talent pool is very shallow. So the main cities in these regions – PRD – Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Guangzhou; YRD – Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou and BER – Beijing and Tianjin are often fighting for the same money and the same talent. Â So like brands they need to put forward the best image and remain competitive and the only way to do that is to be a brand. Branding and Marketing is often overlooked in China as it just accepted that local and overseas people know what the city is about.
In terms of previous branding exercises Beijing used the Olympics, Shanghai the Expo and Guangzhou the Asian Games as a way to reinvigorate the city and create a brand – some brands where more successful than others but now that these events are over and written in the history books the cities need to once again think like a brand. Who can plan, market, grow and innovate in the next 30 years to become the best mega-city or region. Its also the 12th 5-year plan (125) Â for many developed cities in China, so many new proposals and ideas have been formulated for the next 5 years.
Currently, the lines are being drawn on what cities will be in the future. It seems that Beijing is announcing that its brand will be “Beijing Service” with industrial competitiveness in ‘human capital, knowledge and technology-intensive service industries’ creating a Silicon Valley environment with “Two Cities, Two Zone”. Shanghai is going after Financial services (New York) by creating a more friendly investment environment and also creating several new CBD/CAD areas that can house commercial development(similar to Canary Wharf) – although the existing towers of Lujiazui will be always be the ‘financial hub’. Guangzhou/Shenzhen is moving forward with manufacturing but moving more towards cleaner and greener technologies. Although the Tianjin and Guangzhou/Shenzhen will be fighting for the same green/cleantech dollars and talent. All the East Coast cities are also important shipping ports, however a shipping port as the sole city brand will not work as China transitions away from manufacturing.
Each city or mega-region needs to generate a brand that saids  Tech, Financial or Manufacturing  and they need to be marketed correctly to the get the  right talent and increase innovation so they can gain the overseas and local capital for the next 30 years. Of course, other city brands will rise as Western China develops but currently the East Coast cities are in a period of consolidating and maturing and need to create that quintessential brand that said Financial Shanghai, High Tech Beijing,  Green Tech Shenzhen and Eco-tech Tianjin.
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Cities in China need to think like brands
Cities are like brands – they need to have a plan, market, grow, and innovate. Cities can’t just plan and grow and expect investment, residents and tourists to appear. Just getting by can work for some cities such as Paris, Rome or Venice or other world-renown tourist cities – if that is the one of the main industries and it keeps the city going it might work. But for other cities around the world, where the competition internally within the country and externally, where other global cities are growing and innovating it becomes very important for the city to understand their competition and plan, market, grow and innovate.  I am purely talking from an economic and investment point of view. I understand that cities aren’t just economic centres that generate wealth. A City is where people live, where art is created, where sport is played, where people fall in love, where people visit, where trees breathe and where life ceases these are all important elements of a city but for this post I am particularly talking about a city as economic and business brand – not a tourist or lifestyle brand.
Currently, the east coast of China has been developing at a extraordinarily rate since the early 1980’s and some are reaching a stage where its time to review what has occurred what have they learned what has worked in there city and where has the competition beat them. Many cities are starting to compete for the same talent, the same investment dollars and new businesses. In particular its becoming a fight between the Pearl River Delta(PRD), Yangtze River Delta(YRD) and Bohai Economic Rim(BER). The PRD has manufacturing and some services, YRD is the transiting to services (financial, law, business development & tech) and the BER is the government, and tech. These regions and cities require management talent – something that is developing in China but is often the reason that some business sectors don’t perform as expected because the talent pool is very shallow. So the main cities in these regions – PRD – Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Guangzhou; YRD – Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou and BER – Beijing and Tianjin are often fighting for the same money and the same talent.  So like brands they need to put forward the best image and remain competitive and the only way to do that is to be a brand. Branding and Marketing is often overlooked in China as it just accepted that local and overseas people know what the city is about.
In terms of previous branding exercises Beijing used the Olympics, Shanghai the Expo and Guangzhou the Asian Games as a way to reinvigorate the city and create a brand – some brands where more successful than others but now that these events are over and written in the history books the cities need to once again think like a brand. Who can plan, market, grow and innovate in the next 30 years to become the best mega-city or region. Its also the 12th 5-year plan (125) Â for many developed cities in China, so many new proposals and ideas have been formulated for the next 5 years.
Currently, the lines are being drawn on what cities will be in the future. It seems that Beijing is announcing that its brand will be “Beijing Service” with industrial competitiveness in ‘human capital, knowledge and technology-intensive service industries’ creating a Silicon Valley environment with “Two Cities, Two Zone”. Shanghai is going after Financial services (New York) by creating a more friendly investment environment and also creating several new CBD/CAD areas that can house commercial development(similar to Canary Wharf) – although the existing towers of Lujiazui will be always be the ‘financial hub’. Guangzhou/Shenzhen is moving forward with manufacturing but moving more towards cleaner and greener technologies. Although the Tianjin and Guangzhou/Shenzhen will be fighting for the same green/cleantech dollars and talent. All the East Coast cities are also important shipping ports, however a shipping port as the sole city brand will not work as China transitions away from manufacturing.
Each city or mega-region needs to generate a brand that saids  Tech, Financial or Manufacturing and they need to be marketed correctly to the get the  right talent and increase innovation so they can gain the overseas and local capital for the next 30 years. Of course, other city brands will rise as Western China develops but currently the East Coast cities are in a period of consolidating and maturing and need to create that quintessential brand that said Financial Shanghai, High Tech Beijing,  Green Tech Shenzhen and Eco-tech Tianjin.
Pigeon-holing employees – a recipe for employee churn
Recently, I have noticed more and more businesses are pigeon-holing people based on skill or one required task. Its not just corporate cultures who are doing this, I have seen more and more smaller firms hire people based alone on one skill set. It is becoming more prominent in China as businesses try to streamline processes and increase efficiency as labour costs increase as the China market matures especially in Tier 1 cities. However, this is going to come to haunt businesses as they head towards Chinese New Year, a time when people go home with family and think about the year ahead. Many employees who work for businesses that have started pigeon-holing people will look for new employers that provide more challenges and opportunities to grow.
Providing challenges and the opportunity to grow with your company is going to start to outweigh your company’s reputation and the location of your headquarters. Too often in China people look for the perfect person for the position they have open and assess each candidate on whether they are right for the position – usually this involves a check-list,  which is really another form of pigeon holing.  This method of recruiting just emphasizes the rigidity of the culture and therefore the company will miss out on people who can contribute in multiple areas of the company. The person might not have all the skills that you want for the position but may have a wider understanding of the industry or clients or suppliers, etc. Of course, attitude, passion and past positions are other attributes that you need to take into account when searching for the right candidate.
How is pigeon-holing a recipe for churn? Creating a culture where people are pigeon-holed into one or two tasks may create task efficiency but it will also create churn as employees lack challenges and a pathway through the company. It goes back to the hiring process, when you look to employ people don’t use a checklist, look at their wider skill set and immediately determine how they could progress in your company and what areas they could contribute to your business. Providing challenges and a pathway to grow is a great way to retain people, but you need to effectively communicate this to each employee and not just at their annual evaluation. Â Always remember, the people who have a wider skill set, (which shows a willingness to learn and change) are better long term employees as they can grow within the company over longer periods of time thus reducing your churn rate and hiring costs.
SIDENOTE: This is does not only apply to creative or white collar businesses it also applies to production lines or other singular task work environments. People doing one task all day may create efficiency but people are not robots and in the long term can have a psychological impact as we have seen this year occur in the manufacturing sector.
Design changes the way you live, work and play everyday
Design affects you everyday from the time you rise from your bed to the time you come home and retire to bed. Design is everywhere and helps you in every way achieve you goals for the day. Design occurs from the mundane such as tap or door to the highly sophisticated such as a car or plane where numerous design elements come together to work as one system.
A designer is someone who solves a problem or creates a solution to a question never asked. Designers are not just people with special skills or way of thinking they are everyday people who are trying to creating a better and more interesting world.
Designers  can be architects, engineers, planners, stylists, musicians, artists, and also professional designer in various areas of design including  urban, industrial, graphic, interiors, lighting, sound, fashion, jewelery, web, game, furniture, visual and so on. Everyday designers effect the way you work, live and play – your desk, chair, computer, phone – your crockery, table, restaurant, car, plane – your racquet, console, bike. All these have elements of design that were created by a designer whether the object is practical, curvaceous, austere, clean, minimalist, modern, antique, whimsical or audacious. Design can be seen everywhere, everyday and designers effect everything you do and how you feel.
Designers are often the silent heroes to me  – the ones who aren’t the starchitects or fashion icons or jewelery powerhouses – these people who design day in day out giving the heart and soul to design items of practicality or beauty. Although many do it for ego, most do it for the love of design. So if you know a designer or buy a design that you love drop the designer an email or written note saying how it makes you feel as that will make any designers day.
Frank Gehry’s UTS building – catalyst for modern Sydney Architecture
Frank Gehry’s of new architectural design for the Dr Chau Chak Wing(see above) at the University of Technology in Sydney was recently published on bdonline.co.uk – Gehry unveils his ‘mystery’ $150 million Australian debut. Its been dubbed the Tree-house – Australian’s have a knack for giving nick names to buildings or places such as the Harbour Bridge is know as the Coat hanger.  I can see that the new Gehry building will be interesting addition to the Sydney skyline. Sydney isn’t renowned for its great architecture, obviously there are a few exceptions with the Opera House and a few Harry Siedler buildings – most other buildings including much of the CBD are plain glass monolith’s – I am saying this as a true Melbournian :-p (Sydney vs Melbourne rivalry dates back decades).
I also worry about the plain and mundane architecture that has been presented for the new developments at Barangar0o; They all seem too similar and don’t offer much identity for the place – I feel that the buildings could be anywhere in the world. However, I hope that Gehry’s building it will be implemented with minor alterations to the visions say what you will about his designs but they do have a certain power and create an energy within the space they occupy.  I am hoping the Gehry’s UTS building will have the same catalytic effect on Sydney’s architecture that the RMIT’s buildings of the 1990’s had on Melbourne’s skyline and architecture. The two key buildings where Building 8 by Edmond & Corrigan and Storey Hall by Ashton Raggatt McDougall.
MORE INFORMATION: UTS has setup a project website with the specification, costs and all consultants involved in the project.
*UPDATE* – I have been informed by UTS that DARYL JACKSON ROBIN DYKE is the landscape architect as well as the executive architect for the project.