Having been a port and manufacturing city for many years, with a large proportion of poorly educated people, the city's primary goal for many years has been to improve the cultural climate of the city to the benefit of its residents. Since 1987, however, this cultural policy received an increasingly market-oriented emphasis. The eternal rivalry with Amsterdam, and the expectation that a cultural image would enhance the attractiveness of the city for economic investments, are the main factors in this reorientation. Rotterdam's prospects in the market of international urban tourism are weak, because this city does not have an attractive historical core. Therefore, modern architecture has become the trademark of Rotterdam.