Recent years have witnessed considerable advances in urban competitiveness evaluation systems and related research. Now, urban competitiveness has become an important direction indicator in urban policy-making. Understanding the clear status of Seoul based on the diagnosis of urban competitiveness is now essential.

This study mainly compares and diagnoses the urban competitiveness of major Asian cities such as Tokyo, Beijing, and Shanghai along with Seoul, and proposes policy strategies to enhance Seoul’s urban competitiveness based on its strengths and weaknesses. Chapter II reviewed research trends and current critical issues of urban competitiveness. Chapter III explored the several major urban competitiveness evaluation system including CASS’ Global Urban Competitiveness, MORI’s Global Power City Index, Kearney’s Global City Index, and EIU Quality of Life evaluation indicators. In Chapter Ⅳ, we compared the urban capabilities of Seoul, Tokyo, Beijing and identified Seoul’s strength and weakness. In the final chapter, we proposed Seoul's urban competitiveness improvement strategy for the sustainable future, including further revitalizing growth and soft power capabilities as a smart city, responding to social gaps and inequality, and strengthening innovation capabilities that are relatively weak compared to other major Asian cities.