Among the motivations for highly skilled labour to move, the attractivity of a region is one of the decisive elements. The attractiveness of regions and cities for residents and visitors alike depends on the quality, cost and availability of specific services and goods.
Attractive, competitive and dynamic regions and cities have been a major issue for the development of respective policies. Another project offering a lot of information here is the Attreg within the ESPON programme.
In the research we did we found that the following factors were important for determining the attractivity of a region for higly skilled workers:
- Infrastructure in general
- Costs of living
- Business oppotunities
- Well connected by road
- Well connected by public transport
- Labour Conditions
- Educational facilities
- Housing quality
- Affordable housing
- Environmental qualities
- Nature
- Sustainability issues
- Good Telecommunications
- Attractive sports facilities
- Entertainment facilities
- Cultural facilities
- Sports facilities
- Recreational facilities
- Career Opportunities
- A good national image
- An international image
In a number of the regions where we did our research we learned a lot from the Richard Florida and his theory on the creative class But in other data collected within our project and also other sources suggested that his analysis is not always applicable to all regions.