The renewal capacity of regional cities in Finland: An indicator-based assessment and stakeholder perspectives

Smaller cities are likely to follow different development trajectories than large cities. However, empirical research on their ability to generate new growth remains limited. This study investigates the renewal capacity of Finnish regional cities (between 5 000 and 50 000 inhabitants) to establish growth potentials. Evolutionary approaches of regional resilience and endogenous growth frame renewal capacity as an applicable framework of institutional arrangements and territorial capital to analyze adaptive transformation. This capacity is assessed through a set of indicators presenting economic, human and social capitals as well as targeted key-stakeholder interviews. The results of the indicator analysis identify distinct strengths that regional cities possess compared to other municipal groups (particularly large cities) including low outmigration, diversified local economic structures and strong commitment to the promotion of businesses and industry. Interviews highlighted networks within and between regional cities and neighbouring municipalities. Overall, regional cities emerge as urban units sufficiently compact to act with institutional agility yet sufficiently resourced to pursue endogenous development, offering an empirically grounded counterpoint to assumptions that developmental capacity scales monotonically with city size.