Cities can be the engines that drive a country's economic growth, providing an environment in which private-sector jobs can be created and maintained, but they can also become barriers to economic growth and competitiveness if they do not understand the extraordinary tools that lie within their grasp.
ICMA has worked with local governments in the United States and internationally to develop strategies that allow them to compete for business in a local, national, regional, and global environment. In ICMA's experience, improving local economic competitiveness requires the active participation of local governments, which are critical to the expansion and creation of jobs in the private sector.
Because local governments are the intersection through which most business creation must flow, this regulatory and administrative gateway needs to be supportive and transparent, and local governments need to create an environment conducive to businesses. In addition, local governments are best positioned to create realistic economic development strategies grounded in the specific strengths of the community, and to mobilize resources for their implementation.
Working in developing countries, ICMA has designed an Economic Development Continuum wherein local governments serve as the nexus between jobs and basic services, adequate infrastructure, and financial management, and realize how these basic elements are interdependent and contribute to a local government’s ability to create and implement proactive economic development strategies.
Once local authorities appreciate this, they are able to place into context the basic improvements that are needed to be competitive. To foster this understanding, ICMA has developed a Local Economic Development Score Card and worked closely with local governments worldwide to assess and improve municipal service delivery and physical infrastructure, create the political will for change, identify business opportunities, and develop public-private partnerships that foster economic and community growth and create more competitive cities.
ICMA's comprehensive Community-Based Economic Development (CBED) approach fosters an open, democratic process for public-private cooperation and mobilizes all community resources, including land, labor, capital, and technology, to improve the competitiveness of the community in the global market. The CBED approach recognizes that economic development programs involve many sectors—housing, education, labor force development, infrastructure, finance, law, health, civil society, and private sector development—and allows for the efficient use of resources in a way that benefits businesses and citizens alike. ICMA’s programs have focused primarily on the following areas: