Asia’s cities becoming people-centric: Knight Frank’s Global Cities Report
Asia’s cities becoming people-centric: Knight Frank’s Global Cities Report
Cities will “thrive or sink” based on their ability to galvanise creative talent
Today, the success of cities hinges less on industries dependent on machinery and commodities and more on their ability to lure and retain creative, highly educated people, according to Knight Frank’s Global Cities Report.
Surveying 32 global cities, the report found that urban areas will become more people-centric, veering away from old-guard industries like manufacturing and into services that make use of creative talent, particularly by Millennials. Such a shift will have enormous consequences on zoning, land use, and property development.
“This desire to make cities more interesting places has coincided with a number of related trends which are propelling true mixed-use to the forefront of development activity,” Liam Bailey, global head of research at Knight Frank, states in his report. “The ‘war for talent’ has been a critical driver, with cities competing ever harder to nurture the right ecosystem to attract the best workers.”
While western global cities still lead in the services sector, cities in Asia are seeing a rapid expansion of their tech and creative industries. Shanghai is one notable example, where demand for technological innovation, media services and telecommunications infrastructure has experienced rapid growth.
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Office take-up by technology, media and telecom firms in Shanghai leapt by 75 percent between 2007 and 2015, compared with 25.7 percent for finance, insurance and real estate services firms. The city is the second hottest market in Knight Frank’s Global Residential Cities Index, with home values rising 30.5 percent in the year to Q1 2016.
In southwest Asia, Dubai has successfully reinvented itself as a convergence point for artists and entrepreneurs, following its repositioning as a tourist hub after the financial crisis and the Arab Spring. Noteworthy efforts in the emirate include the Dubai Digital Entrepreneurship Hub, jointly launched by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry and IBM this year, and AstroLabs Dubai, the only Google tech hub in MENA. As a result, developers are reducing the size of apartments in order to make them more affordable for creative types.
“Where art or museum quarters lead, retail and restaurant culture follow,” Bailey writes.
To other creatives, the lure of a city outside their own country is a basic one. “It is a simple process – the happy confluence of cheap space and accessibility,” says Bailey.
Education is another key push factor that drives over 25 percent of all UHNWIs to change their country of residence, Knight Frank notes, citing The Wealth Report. In the UK, a popular international education destination, cashed-up foreign students have gravitated toward more luxurious accommodations, according to a report by London-based agency Benham & Reeves Residential Lettings.
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Source: Property Report