What do the cities of Bucaramanga and Coimbatore have in common and what have they done differently to enable fast-paced private sector development? As noted in a blog post earlier this year, the World Bank Group is pursuing a Competitive Cities Knowledge Base (CCKB) project, looking at how metropolitan economies can create jobs and ensure prosperity for their residents. The first two case studies – Bucaramanga, in Colombia’s Santander Department, and Coimbatore, in India’s State of Tamil Nadu – were carried out between April and June 2014. Although they’re on opposite sides of the globe, these two mid-sized, secondary cities have revealed some remarkable similarities. Read the blog for some initial observations about the respective ingredients of success, and the teachable moments from both examples.
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