Int. J. Knowledge-Based Development, Vol. 2, No. 3, 2011 267 Copyright © 2011 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Measuring competitiveness of cities: Turkish experience Melih Bulu Management Department, Istanbul Sehir University, Altunizade Mah., Kusbakisi Cd., No:27, 34662, Uskudar, Istanbul, Turkey E-mail: melihbulu@sehir.edu.tr Abstract: As cities were becoming the centre of economic production, people migrated to cities in the developed world in the 20th century. Globalisation initiated a new trend for cities in the 21st century. Increasing effect of neoliberal policies after the 80s caused significant changes of cities approach to their domestic economic production capabilities. Today, cities are competing for attracting people who have skill and investment capability as well as other resources. Leaders of the cities are working to make their cities more competitive among their rivals whereas the leaders of the countries are working for making the cities of their country more competitive. While doing this, successful leaders use knowledge-based urban development tools. Therefore, the studies providing knowledge regarding to comparison of cities are finding application area. In this study, the development process of City Competitiveness Index (CCI) of Turkey was discussed. The analysis of the project showed that CCI was helpful mostly for investors and policy makers as well as local decision-makers. Especially, policy makers had a very useful tool for making knowledge-based decisions for Turkish cities. Keywords: city competitiveness; measuring competitiveness; Turkish cities; competitiveness index; CCI; knowledge-based competitiveness; Turkey. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Bulu, M. (2011) ‘Measuring competitiveness of cities: Turkish experience’, Int. J. Knowledge-Based Development, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp.267–281. Biographical notes: Melih Bulu worked at various levels of the private sector both as a professional and an entrepreneur. While doing these, he has also worked on competitiveness related projects for cities for the last decade as an academician and a consultant. Since 2004, he has been the General Coordinator of the International Competitiveness Research Institute (URAK), an NGO working on economic competitiveness of cities and countries. He is leading various competitiveness related projects in URAK. He teaches strategy related courses at Istanbul Sehir University. His main interest areas are city competitiveness, regional development, game theory, cluster theory and organisation theory.