A systematic literature review of city competitiveness: a 30-year assessment and future agenda for public administration

This article synthesises the cross-disciplinary literature on city competitiveness published in the past three decades to bring attention to competitiveness as a key topic for public administration and local government performance. We systematically reviewed research regarding city competitiveness, its measurement, and its antecendents. Subsequently, to explore the link between local governments and competitiveness, we articulated multiple perspectives to investigate this connection, concluding that while the relationship between government and city competitiveness is still not entirely settled and results are far from consistent, the progress made to date charts a course for future research that centers on public administration contributions.