CONCEPT OF COMPETITIVENESS OF THE CITY'S ECONOMY

Abstract

The paper presents the concept of competitiveness of the city's economy. Its growing
importance in the theory and policy of the competitiveness of certain urban areas is highlighted.
The concept of city competitiveness means a kind of theoretical and methodological unification of
the general and local dimensions of the multi-level category of competitiveness. This multiplies the
possibilities of viewing relations between economic actors in a certain area. The authors note the
growing interest of researchers of various vocations in studying the concept of city
competitiveness. For economic analysts of the concept of competitiveness of the city, particularly
significant drivers of the improvement of the city's competitiveness are related to dynamic changes
in the structure of the economy, movements in the labor markets, the emergence of new social
needs, and recently an increasing number of factors related to security issues (infrastructural,
energy, food, etc.). An increasing number of cities recognize the need to strengthen their
competitive position by applying an entrepreneurial and marketing approach. In addition to the socalled
"hard" drivers of the city's competitiveness (job opportunities, ease of doing business, tourist
attractiveness), "soft" factors such as the perception of the quality of life, the image of the city, the
availability of specific offers, and the like are gaining importance. Reducing the category of city
economy competitiveness in the Republic of Serbia to an economic aggregate indicator, the paper
presents, based on its own calculations, a comparative overview of the economic competitiveness
indicators of the cities of Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš and Kragujevac in the period 2005-2021.