Creative clusters in Europe: a microdata approach

Creative industries are highly concentrated forming clusters. One of the main problems for the identification of clusters of creative industries in Europe is the lack of data, constrained in practice to regions (NUTS 2) and influenced by the heterogeneity in the definition of NUTS across countries. This research uses firm-level data geo-referenced at address level and geostatistical modeling to identify clusters of creative industries in fifteen European countries. The procedure is independent of administrative divisions and national boundaries and allows to produce a precise geography of the clusters of creative industries in Europe.

Is the influence of quality of life on urban growth non-stationary in space? A case study of Barcelona

There are several determinants that influence household location decisions. More concretely, recent economic literature assigns an increasingly important role to the variables governing quality of life. Nevertheless, the spatial stationarity of the parameters is implicitly assumed in most studies. Here we analyse the role of quality of life in urban economics and test for the spatial stationarity of the relationship between city growth and quality of life.quality of life, urban economics, geographically weighted regressions

Not all sprawl - Evolution of employment centers in Los Angeles, 1980 - 2000

Are contemporary metropolitan regions becoming more dispersed? The collective set of urban models tells us two stories. The first is that changes in the structure of the economy, ever faster and cheaper information and communications technologies, and the dispersion of the labor force have broadened the scope of agglomeration economies. Hence employment will continue to decentralize. The alternative story argues that heavy reliance on face-to-face communication in the information economy, economies of scale and scope in infrastructure, and historical path dependence in urban spatial patterns suggest that highly localized agglomeration economies continue to exist. The purpose of our research is to establish robust empirical evidence that can help clarify the debate over the evolution of economic activity within a metropolitan area and provide the data that can be used to test the implications of many of the models that speak to urban dynamics. We examine changes in employment patterns in the Los Angeles region, from 1980 to 2000. As a rapidly growing, prototypically polycentric region, Los Angeles provides an interesting case study of spatial evolution. Using data from 1980, 1990 and 2000, we identify employment centers and describe spatial trends in the pattern of employment inside and outside these centers. Our findings point to three trends in the evolution of the topography of employment. First, there is a remarkable degree of stability in the system of centers. While a small number of centers appear and disappear, the large majority of centers are evident throughout the three sample periods. This stability does not mean that the distribution of employment has been static, however. The second trend is a marked spread in the average distance of jobs from the traditional core: the average job in 2000 was significantly further from downtown than in 1980. This decentralization is not simply dispersion, but rather both deconcentration and concentration. That is, while the most rapid job growth has occurred in the outer suburbs, suburban employment centers have become more numerous, larger and more concentrated. These trends appear to defy simple models of urban evolution and call for a more nuanced understanding of the dynamics underlying these trends.

IDENTIFICATION OF TECHNOLOGICAL DISTRICTS: THE CASE OF SPAIN

In recent years, several contributions have been focused on a new sort of productive systems that share some characteristics with Marshallian industrial districts. These contributions have analysed the competitiveness of these new areas and how have been promoted by policy makers. In this line, the Marshallian concept of industrial district has been increasingly related to high technology and innovation in order to analysis technological districts or clusters. The aim of this research is to show how these new areas have characteristics are not similar to those shown by traditional industrial districts. Therefore, framework and techniques for analysis that have been traditionally used for industrial districts must be adapted for identifying technological districts. Specifically, some reflections about the framework analysis of sector and spatial units are introduced in the first part of this research as well as those techniques that can be useful to identify and analyse technological districts. Next, the analysis is focused on the identification of technological districts in Spain. A multivariate analysis will be applied to calculate a synthetic index that will be used to identify those areas with a high degree of specialization in high and medium technology activities. This synthetic index will collect data about those technological activities that are involved not only in manufacturing but also in activities of innovation and R&D. Until now, there have been not many attempts to identify technological clusters through the application of quantitative methodologies; therefore, the purpose of this research is to contribute to the enhancement of knowledge about these areas in Spain. Keywords: technological districts, clusters, location, spatial agglomerations.

Small town research in Germany - status quo and recommendations

Urban studies in Germany are traditionally oriented towards large cities. The structures, meanings and functions of small towns are not sufficiently perceived and differentiated in scientific or political debates. Adequate research on small towns requires systematic, comparative, inter- and transdisciplinary approaches. Traditional attributions should be questioned critically and small towns should be examined empirically in their diversity and differentiation. This involves paying attention to external influences and heterogeneous internal structures as well as to regional functions and interdependencies. The availability and generation of statistical data, which also make small-scale analyses possible, are just as necessary as more comprehensive studies, which go beyond limited case studies. Finally, also research funding and academic teaching should address small towns more systematically than it has been the case in the past. This position paper presents recommendations for research, university teaching, official statistics and research funding in the field of small town research. The Ad-hoc Working Group focused on small town research in Germany and German-language literature, respectively

The Geographical Location of Manufacturing Exporters in South Africa

This paper provides empirical evidence on the location of export-oriented manufacturing firms in Africa (South Africa), and on how the patterns of location has changed over the past decade after the country embarked on trade liberalization. It is found that (a) the proximity to a port is an important consideration in most export-oriented manufacturing firms' location, with more than 70 per cent of manufacturing exports in South Africa originating from a band of 100 km from a port; and (b) there is a second band of location of these firms at a distance of between 200 and 400 km from the port. Between 1996 and 2004, manufactured exports in the band between 200 and 400 km from the nearest port increased. Various possible explanations for this dispersion of export location are discussed. These include (a) changes in international and domestic transport costs; (b) an increase in manufactured exports that depend on natural resources due to demand factors; and/or (c) inflation in land-rents or wage rates in the vicinity of hubs; and/or (d) the increasing productivity of export plants due to scale effects.geographical economics, manufacturing exports, domestic transport costs, South Africa

Local human capital, segregation by skill, and skill-specific employment growth

Labour markets in most highly developed countries are marked by rising levels of skill segregation in the production process and increasing inequalities in skill-specific employment prospects. The local skill structure is frequently regarded as a major cause for regional growth disparities. There are several studies investigating the influence of the local human capital endowment on qualification-specific wages levels. Furthermore, theoretical studies suggest that skill segregation might matter for the polarisation of wages and employment. However, analyses on regional employment growth by different skill levels are still scarce and empirical evidence on the effects of skill segregation on qualification-specific employment is completely lacking. This paper investigates the effects of the local skill composition and skill segregation in the production process on qualification-specific employment growth in West German regions. This study provides first evidence for negative effects of skill segregation on low-skilled employment growth. Furthermore, the results show that a large share of local high-skilled employment does not foster further regional concentration of human capital but positively affects the employment prospects of less skilled workers. --regional employment growth,low-skilled employment,skill segregation

Alternative explanations of hierarchical differentiation in urban systems

The hierarchical differentiation of urban systems has been noticed for a long time and various explanations have been suggested. Among them: an intentional functional organisation for controlling a territory; the application of a spatial economic equilibrium principle; a “purely” random growth process; the statistical addition of Pareto-like elementary phenomena; self-organisation or co-evolution of competing subsystems, without constraint or under space-time optimisation principle. We review these explanations and related methods of analysis, trying to assess their relevance and exploring the possible similarities between urban dynamics and other types of hierarchical complex systems

Is the influence of quality of life on urban growth non-stationary in space? A case study of Barcelona

There are several determinants that influence household location decisions. More concretely, recent economic literature assigns an increasingly important role to the variables governing quality of life. Nevertheless, the spatial stationarity of the parameters is implicitly assumed in most studies. Here we analyse the role of quality of life in urban economics and test for the spatial stationarity of the relationship between city growth and quality of life