In the past decade international competitiveness has become the top priority of national, regional and urban governments in the advanced capitalist economy. Attracting and retaining creative and high‐educated talent as well as creative and knowledge‐intensive firms are considered essential ingredients of urban and city‐regional ‘recipes for success’. Amsterdam and Dublin have, at both city‐ and city‐regional level, been very active in preparing and implementing competitiveness strategies in which fostering and stimulating creativity, knowledge and innovation play a leading role. The crisis since 2008 has made a reconsideration of these strategies necessary. Is ‘creative knowledge’ still the preferred road ahead, and if it is, can existing competitiveness strategies be continued or should new strategies be developed?