Industry in Motion: Using Smart Phones to Explore the Spatial Network of the Garment Industry in New York City

Industrial agglomerations have long been thought to offer economic and social benefits to firms and people that are only captured by location within their specified geographies. Using the case study of New York City’s garment industry along with data acquired from cell phones and social media, this study set out to understand the discrete activities underpinning the economic dynamics of an industrial agglomeration. Over a two week period, data was collected by employing the geo-locative capabilities of Foursquare, a social media application, to record every movement of fashion workers employed at fashion design firms located both inside and outside the geographical boundaries of New York City’s Garment District. This unique method of studying worker activity exposed the day-to-day dynamics of an industrial district with a precision thus far undocumented in literature. Our work suggests that having access to the cluster provides almost the same agglomeration economies as residing within its borders.Rockefeller Foundatio

Inconspicuous consumption, a new form of social distinction?

Cultural capital plays a key role in defining and perpetuating class inequality in contemporary America. As demonstrated by Elizabeth Currid-Halkett in her work, the old leisure class has been replaced by a new elite, and conspicuous consumption is no longer the ultimate symbol of social distinction. Today, social distinction is achieved through immaterial investments in “small things”: discreet, inconspicuous consumption, requiring a high amount of knowledge and education. Sustainable consumption, notably through food and clothing, is part of this new social distinction of the “aspirational class”. To scale-up sustainable consumption, it is essential to make it more accessible to middle and lower-income groups

Evolving Perspectives on the Arts, Place, and Development

Abstract This article discusses the evolving role of art and culture in urban planning and economic development. It explains that the cultural industries attract skilled labor, generate tourist dollars, and produce jobs and revenue in their own right. The article argues that while the use of unconventional modes and institutions in the industrial activities of the arts hinder research, they also enable us to apply innovative techniques and theories from other disciplines in our efforts to study art and culture.</jats:p

Socially Engaged Art(ists) and the 'Just Turn' in City Space: The Evolution of Gwanghwamun Plaza in Seoul, South Korea

Expanding the critical research on the role of arts and artists in (influencing) urban development and urban planning tenets, this article looks at how the interventions of socially engaged art(ists) committed to creating momentum for a 'just turn' in civic values and action can have tangible implications. We look into the threads of connection between the broader literature around the social and 'just turn' in the art world and urban planning approaches. Seoul is then presented with particular focus here as it is going through a watershed moment in what a city 'ought to be', amid 'paradigm shifts' that involve rethinking the relational connection between the arts and city space in tandem with social engagement as the new doctrine of governance. The article focuses on the case of Gwanghwamun Plaza in central Seoul as an example that embodies these scenes and changes. First, it goes over how the plaza's functions and image over time were influenced by both top-down and bottom-up dynamics, in the context of changing dynamics in the urban planning and art worlds. This leads on to more recent events such as the 2016–2017 'candlelight protests', where socially engaged art(ists) played a bottom-up, pivotal role in (re)characterizing a tourism-booster landmark into a public space for social dialogue. By examining the built environment implications from these artistic interventions in Gwanghwamun Plaza, the article considers how the practices and discussions from socially engaged art(ists) can be significant in characterizing the 'new normal' in the plaza's future and in urban/cultural policy and planning at large.</jats:p

The Emergence of Los Angeles as a Fashion Hub

The US fashion industry is a useful lens through which to view the transformation of the country’s urban economic systems. Initially an industrial vanguard, fashion has evolved into a more design-oriented sector and a central part of the ‘cognitive-cultural economy’. Fashion is also a clear demonstration of place-specific comparative advantage and specialisation, intensely linked to ‘place in product’. The paper traces the fashion industry’s evolution from 1986 to 2007, focusing on New York and Los Angeles. The composition of the industry in each locale demonstrates each city’s comparative advantage and these advantages may be key determinants of their future fortunes. Using geographical information systems (GIS), fashion’s current spatial form is studied. Within the industry’s sub-sectors, spatial patterns and similar geographical clustering emerge. The industry may be facing somewhat of a reconfiguring of its economic geography; however, the fashion industry’s spatial-structural patterns persist within each city. We also find that fashion, like high technology and Hollywood, tends to produce regional network agglomerations, strong headquarter cities and co-location of particular sectors. Our findings are consistent with the larger theoretical and empirical observations on the post-industrial landscape. </jats:p