Amenities-oriented Model of Urban Development: A New Paradigm for International Urban Research
Abstract：
Combining art, technology, local culture and diverse social environment to meet the needs of creative talents has become an important pathway for global cities to attract advanced human capital and enhance competitiveness in the past 20 years. Amenities are key to this process. A rising number of international studies demonstrate that amenities have become an increasingly important driver of urban development. Through a systematic review of amenities research, this paper introduces an amenitiesoriented urban development model. First, it summarizes the model’s theoretical meaning, characteristics, and applicable conditions. Secondly, it discusses the effect of the model on urban development, which involves the relationship between amenities as well as the growth of innovative talents and the needs of ordinary citizens. Thirdly, it focuses on key debates in international amenities research and integrates these debates from the perspective of “scenes”, and then analyzes the theory and practice of amenities-oriented urban policy and planning. Finally, new international trends and challenges of amenities research are prospected. As a new paradigm for urban research, amenities-oriented urban development is conducive to guiding the transition of urban policies from addressing the needs of industry development to the developmental needs of people involved in industries, especially the demands of innovative talents in creativity, consumption and culture, so as to attract and aggregate high-quality human capital, as well as to promote the transition of urban development dynamics from external forces to internal drivers.