Industry clusters and SMEs

Studie naar de rol van clusters van bedrijven in de economie. Clusters van bedrijven krijgen een groeiende aandacht op alle bestuurlijke niveaus. De achterliggende gedachte is dat samenwerking tussen bedrijven op technologisch gebied leidt tot de creatie van extra toegevoegde waarde, niet alleen voor de samenwerkingspartners zelf, maar ook voor de lokale, regionale en nationale economie. In de studie wordt een clusterdefinitie gepresenteerd en een raamwerk dat als basis kan dienen voor nader onderzoek naar de rol en positie van het MKB in clusters.

People, Place and Partnership: Exploring Strategies to Revitalise Town Centres

More and more town centres in Western Europe are in decline, as indicated by growing shop vacancy rates in shopping streets. To turn the tide, decision makers look for revitalisation strategies. Are there any solutions? Making use of theoretical insights, empirical findings and anecdotal evidence from the Netherlands, we suggest that town centre revitalisation is a matter of connecting people, place and partnership. First, strategies should be based on an understanding of how customers (people) behave. Secondly, redesign of the physical environment (place) might be needed, since visitors prefer compact centres that are built on a human scale and known for a unique profile. Finally, close collaboration between a wide range of local stakeholders (partnership) is essential. We conclude that town centre revitalisation is possible, but takes a lot of energy and patience from the actors involved

Auf der Suche nach neuen Kombinationen von Trends und Tradition

In der gegenwärtigen wissensbestimmten Wirtschaft betreiben Staaten in einem zunehmenden Maße Innovationspolitik. Ein wichtiger Teilbereich ist dabei die Entwicklung und Stärkung von Clustern, in denen Zulieferer, Abnehmer und wissenschaftliche Einrichtungen zusammenarbeiten. Ist solch eine Clusterpolitik sinnvoll? --

Opportunities and Challenges of Urban Agriculture for Sustainable City Development

Urban Agriculture (UA) has gained popularity in cities all over the world. In this paper, we explore the concept of UA and discuss it along various locational and strategic dimensions. The article aims to provide insights into the chances and challenges of UA for sustainable city development. By making use of case examples from cities worldwide we show that UA can contribute to the social, environmental, and economics pillars of sustainable city development. However, there are limitations which should be taken into account for cities that want to invest in urban agriculture