Publication > Part III: Policies for the future > MM1
Local investments in any kind of infrastructure, aimed at the mobility of goods, people or knowledge, are important. But even linkages between the city and the surrounding region encourage firms to cluster, produce jointly and serve distant markets from the central city.
It is very hard for the government to stimulate the economy of peripheral cities because the MM city acts like a black hole absorbing all economic activity and all workers from the periphery.
In Metropolitan Markets, the Netherlands should develop the Randstad into an integrated city able to compete with large European cities, in the first place, but also with similar cities in other parts of the world. Public investment can primarily be targeted at improving the local network in the Randstad. Linkages with the other regions in the Netherlands and even with foreign MMs are of secondary importance.
Metropolitan Markets (Place of business)
Main challenge for the Netherlands in Metropolitan Markets is to develop a huge, integrated city. Not every EU Member State will host a city of more than 10 million people in this scenario. Countries which do not succeed in the development of a megacity will lag economically behind.Local investments in any kind of infrastructure, aimed at the mobility of goods, people or knowledge, are important. But even linkages between the city and the surrounding region encourage firms to cluster, produce jointly and serve distant markets from the central city.
It is very hard for the government to stimulate the economy of peripheral cities because the MM city acts like a black hole absorbing all economic activity and all workers from the periphery.
In Metropolitan Markets, the Netherlands should develop the Randstad into an integrated city able to compete with large European cities, in the first place, but also with similar cities in other parts of the world. Public investment can primarily be targeted at improving the local network in the Randstad. Linkages with the other regions in the Netherlands and even with foreign MMs are of secondary importance.