Europe > Introduction to CE's European Knowledge Base
Introduction to CE's European Knowledge Base
Last modified on 27 July 2010 at 14:05
The central subject matter of CE's European Knowledge Base is the economies of 74 city regions in the EU, Norway, Switzerland, Russia and Turkey.
Since 1991 Cambridge Econometrics has published annual reports on the current conditions and immediate prospects for the regions of Europe. The focus has always been on city-regions, and the aim has always been to help the reader to follow the evolution of their economies.
Under the heading ‘European Cities’, the present report contains chapters on 74 city-regions, of which 67 are in the EU, one is in Norway, three are in Switzerland, two are in Russia and one is in Turkey. It also contains brief descriptions of the economies of 15 other cities in the EU and three in Norway, each city being described in a separate article. Finally there is an article about the economic hubs in Bavaria apart from Munich and six articles about the economies of the city networks of the Netherlands, apart from Utrecht, Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam.
Under the heading ‘European Regions’, the present report also contains articles describing the main economic features of the principal regions in 26 member states of the EU (excluding Luxembourg), Norway and Switzerland.
The modelling and analysis at the level of city regions identifies six broad sectors:
1. Agriculture
2. Energy & Manufacturing
3. Construction
4. Distribution, Hotels & Catering and Transport & Communications
5. Financial & Business Services
6. Non-market Services
The choice of subject matter to concentrate on has changed over the years, but it has always been shaped by the interests and concerns that subscribers to this report have communicated to us. The present format of each city chapter, adopted in 2009, presents the material under the following headings:
• City Highlights: principal facts about the city region and its prospects
• Resources: an article about transport resources, and an article about human and intellectual resources
• Economy: the city in its immediate area, the main activities in the economy, recent developments in the economy and prospects for the period to 2014
• Property market: recent developments in the main property markets
The cities of the EU are presented first, followed by the cities of Norway, Switzerland, Russia and Turkey. The order in which the cities of the EU are presented is the order in which Eurostat data are presented for the countries and NUTS regions of the EU 27. This ordering is determined by the initial letter of the name of each country in the language of that country and then by considerations particular to each member state.
The full list of cities covered, in the order in which they are presented, is:
• Belgium: Brussels (chapter); Antwerp and Liège (two articles)
• Bulgaria: Sofia (chapter)
• Czech Republic: Prague, Pilsen, Brno and Ostrava (four chapters)
• Denmark: Copenhagen (chapter); Århus (article)
• Germany: Stuttgart and Munich (two chapters); Bavaria (article); Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf & Essen, Cologne, Dresden and Leipzig (seven chapters); Chemnitz and Halle (two articles)
• Estonia: Tallinn (chapter)
• Ireland: Dublin and Cork (two chapters)
• Greece: Thessaloniki and Athens (two chapters)
• Spain: Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia (three chapters); Bilbao and Corunna (two articles)
• France: Paris, Rouen & Le Havre, Lille, Nantes, Toulouse, Lyon, Montpellier and Aix-Marseille (eight chapters)
• Italy: Turin, Genoa, Milan, Bologna, Rome, Naples and Bari (seven chapters)
• Latvia: Riga (chapter)
• Lithuania: Vilnius (chapter)
• Hungary: Budapest (chapter); Győr, Szentgotthárd, Nagykanizsa and Székesfehérvár (four articles)
• Netherlands: Utrecht, Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam (four chapters); city networks (six articles)
• Austria: Vienna (chapter); Graz and Linz (two articles)
• Poland: Warsaw, Kraków, Poznań and Wrocław (four chapters)
• Portugal: Lisbon and Oporto (two chapters)
• Romania: Bucharest (chapter)
• Slovenia: Ljubljana (chapter)
• Slovak Republic: Bratislava (chapter)
• Finland: Helsinki (chapter)
• Sweden: Stockholm (chapter); Gothenburg and Uppsala (two articles)
• UK: Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, London, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Belfast (nine chapters)
• Norway: Oslo (chapter); Bergen, Stavanger and Trondheim (three articles)
• Switzerland: Geneva, Zürich and Basel (three chapters)
• Russia: Moscow and St Petersburg (two chapters)
• Turkey: Istanbul (chapter)
Because of a lack of data, the chapter about Istanbul concentrates on the soft information about the city's economy and, in particular, its property market. It does not contain historical data or forecasts.