Networks Within Cities and Among Cities: A Paradigm for Urban Development and Governance

Networks and networking have become fashionable concepts and terms in regional science, and in particular in regional and urban geography in the last decade: we speak about network firms, network society, network economy but also network cities, city-networks, reti urbane, reseaux de villes. Only catch-words for somebody; a true new scientific paradigm according to others. Our opinion is that in fact we are confronted with a new paradigm in spatial sciences, under some precise conditions: - that its exact meaning is thoroughly defined, - that its theoretical economic rationale is justified, - that the novelty of its empirical content is clearly pointed out, with respect to more traditional spatial facts and processes that can easily be interpreted through existing spatial paradigms. The relevant theoretical building block on which the network concept or paradigm may be constructed are: - a new view of the economy as a system or web of links between individuals, firms and institutions, where links depend on experience and evolve through learning processes; the existing endowment of knowledge and other production factors is put into value through a relational capability addressed towards the exchange and collection of information, building reputation and trust, creating synergies, cutting down uncertainty, boosting learning processes; - the acknowledgement of cooperation as a new organisational and behavioural form, intermediate between hierarchy (internal development and merging of external activities through direct control) and market resort; cooperation networks among firms collaborating with each other on technological advances and innovation projects were the earlier phenomena that were abundantly explored in the past. In a spatial perspective, two phenomena in particular are worth exploring today through the network concept: - networking as cooperation among individuals, firms and institutions taking place inside the cities concerning collective action, public/private partnerships on large urban projects and the supply of public goods, and giving rise to new forms of urban governance; - networking as inter-urban cooperation, assuming the cities as economic actors, competing but also cooperating in the global arena where locations of internationally mobile factors (professionals, corporations, institutions) are decided and negotiated. The paper is organised in the following way: - a major section is devoted to the interpretation of the micro-economic efficiency of local networking (local urban networks), in terms of the usual criteria of optimal allocation of resources and collective welfare, viewing the network as an organisational alternative between market failure and state failure; - a transition section deals with the interpretation of cities, a collective actor at best, as individual/unitary economic actors, given the case for collective action among interest groups, the possibility of defining in broad terms a function of collective preference referring to non-mobile local actors, the engagement of public and private actors in processes of strategic planning and definition of shared visions for the future of the city vis-a-vis mobile actors; - another main section interprets competition and cooperation among cities (inter-city-networks) underlining advantages, risks and conditions for maximising overall comprehensive well-being. JEL classification: D70, H77, R58

BUILDING SYNTHETIC INDICATORS FOR ASPECTS OF TERRITORIAL CAPITAL TOWARDS THEIR IMPACT ON REGIONAL PERFORMANCE

Empirical analyses highlight local structural features (territorial capital) as constraints on regional growth and interregional convergence processes, but scant attention is devoted to traditional localised resources and specifically the natural and cultural heritage. However, only the application of know-how embodied in human capital to resources provides value. Specifically, heritage becomes economically relevant through human capital acting via tourist, recreational and cultural activities. Although, because of its service exporting nature, tourism contributes to economic growth and job creation similarly to manufacturing, the literature concerned manufacturing and rarely studied tourism or extended results to it. Besides, in Europe tourism is the market activity most favouring policentricity, territorial cohesion and equity. On the other hand, heritage valorisation responding to tourist service demand has adverse effects on development (congestion) and environmental quality / resource consumption (heritage dissipation); these partly offset strictly economic benefits and over time weaken the destination’s pull, hence its value and its population’s welfare. Our goal is to analyse the role of territorial capital, and specifically of intangibles such as natural and cultural capital, in regional growth processes and in local response processes to exogenous crises, by building a national database of territorial capital in Italian provinces, containing synthetic endowment indicators for natural and cultural heritage, human capital, and structure and distribution of tourism and leisure industries. Our methodology includes the application of multivariate analyses, with state-of-the-art techniques. We use available European and national databases, augmented by ad hoc integrations if and when needed. The study area is Italy; the optimal tier is NUTS3, i.e. provinces, in Italy. The time reference is 1990-2010, to ensure a structural long-term approach. The paper is organised in the following way: - an initial section outlines the original data on 103 provinces, providing 33 proxy indicators of which major univariate statistics and correlations are explored; - a first main section reduces indicators into 5 synthetic indicators, by means of factor analysis; - a second main section reduces provinces into 11 ideal types, by means of cluster analysis; - a final section compares and interprets results, also with reference to 2007-2009 economic dynamics.

Liuc papers

L’obiettivo del paper è di esplorare il ruolo del capitale territoriale, soprattutto quello intangibile, nei processi di crescita regionale e nei processi di risposta locale alla crisi esogena. Il focus è posto sul capitale naturale e culturale e sul capitale umano (professioni e istruzione) utilizzando come variabili di controllo l’industria turistica e il mercato del lavoro. Per spiegare questo, gli obiettivi sono i seguenti: 1) sviluppare una struttura teorica di capitale territoriale, sottolineando il ruolo delle risorse immobili nella crescita locale e nei differenziali tra aree, e il ruolo del capitale umano nella valorizzazione delle risorse; 2) costruire un database nazionale del capitale territoriale delle province italiane, contenente indicatori sintetici di capitale naturale e culturale, di capitale umano e della struttura e distribuzione dell’industria turistica. La metodologia utilizzata include l’applicazione di un’analisi cluster e un’analisi delle componenti principali. I dati utilizzai sono presi da fonti istituzionali europee e italiane e l’area di studio è l’Italia a livello provinciale (NUTS3). Il periodo di riferimento va dai primi anni novanta fino agli ultimi dati disponibili, assicurando così un approccio di lungo periodo.Empirical analyses highlight local structural features (territorial capital) as constraints on regional growth and interregional convergence processes, but scant attention is devoted to traditional localised resources and specifically the natural and cultural heritage. However, no heritage provides value by itself: only the application of know-how embodied in human capital achieves this. Specifically, natural and cultural heritage becomes economically relevant through human capital acting through tourist, recreational and cultural activities. Also because of its service exporting nature, tourism is believed to contribute to economic growth and job creation similarly to manufacturing; nevertheless, theoretical and empirical literature concerned manufacturing and rarely studied tourism or extended results to it. Besides, tourism is the market activity most favouring policentricity in Europe: apparently, tourism brings territorial cohesion and equity, although its most dynamic component (culture, events) favours metropolitan locations. However, heritage valorisation responding to tourist service demand may have adverse effects on development (congestion) and significant impacts on environmental quality and on resource consumption (heritage dissipation); these partly offsets strictly economic benefits and over time they weaken the destination’s pull, hence its value and its population’s welfare. Our goal is to explore the role of territorial capital, and specifically of intangibles such as the natural and cultural capital, in regional growth processes and in local response processes to exogenous crises. To this end we aim at achieving the following objectives: i) developing the theoretical framework of territorial capital, highlighting the role of immobile resources in local economic growth and in its spatial differentials, and the role of human capital in resource valorisation; ii) building a national database of territorial capital in Italian provinces, containing synthetic endowment indicators for natural and cultural heritage, human capital, and structure and distribution of the tourism and leisure industries. Our methodology includes the application of multivariate, and later on econometric, analyses, with the relevant state-of-the-art techniques. We use already available European and national databases, making recourse to ad hoc integrations if and when needed. The study area is Italy; the optimal tier is NUTS3, i.e. provinces, in Italy. The time reference is the period from the early 1990s to the latest available year, to ensure a structural long-term approach

Valutazione economica dei progetti, piani e programmi complessi di trasformazione urbana

Il lavoro tende alla definizione di elementi e parametri di valutazione economica da integrare nella procedura istruttoria regionale di strumenti complessi di trasformazione urbana. Obiettivo specifico del lavoro è di individuare un modello di valutazione ecobnomica in grado di evidenziare la validità degli interventi proposti a livello territoriale soprattutto in relazione ai éProgrammi integrati di intervento ed ai Piani regolatori generali

Liuc papers

L'obiettivo del paper è di esplorare il ruolo del capitale territoriale, soprattutto quello intangibile, nei processi di crescita regionale e nei processi di risposta locale alla crisi esogena. Il focus è posto sul capitale naturale e culturale e sul capitale umano (professioni e istruzione) utilizzando come variabili di controllo l'industria turistica e il mercato del lavoro. Per spiegare questo, gli obiettivi sono i seguenti: 1) sviluppare una struttura teorica di capitale territoriale, sottolineando il ruolo delle risorse immobili nella crescita locale e nei differenziali tra aree, e il ruolo del capitale umano nella valorizzazione delle risorse; 2) costruire un database nazionale del capitale territoriale delle province italiane, contenente indicatori sintetici di capitale naturale e culturale, di capitale umano e della struttura e distribuzione dell'industria turistica. La metodologia utilizzata include l'applicazione di un'analisi cluster e un'analisi delle componenti principali. I dati utilizzai sono presi da fonti istituzionali europee e italiane e l'area di studio è l'Italia a livello provinciale (NUTS3). Il periodo di riferimento va dai primi anni novanta fino agli ultimi dati disponibili, assicurando così un approccio di lungo periodo.Empirical analyses highlight local structural features (territorial capital) as constraints on regional growth and interregional convergence processes, but scant attention is devoted to traditional localised resources and specifically the natural and cultural heritage. However, no heritage provides value by itself: only the application of know-how embodied in human capital achieves this. Specifically, natural and cultural heritage becomes economically relevant through human capital acting through tourist, recreational and cultural activities. Also because of its service exporting nature, tourism is believed to contribute to economic growth and job creation similarly to manufacturing; nevertheless, theoretical and empirical literature concerned manufacturing and rarely studied tourism or extended results to it. Besides, tourism is the market activity most favouring policentricity in Europe: apparently, tourism brings territorial cohesion and equity, although its most dynamic component (culture, events) favours metropolitan locations. However, heritage valorisation responding to tourist service demand may have adverse effects on development (congestion) and significant impacts on environmental quality and on resource consumption (heritage dissipation); these partly offsets strictly economic benefits and over time they weaken the destination's pull, hence its value and its population's welfare. Our goal is to explore the role of territorial capital, and specifically of intangibles such as the natural and cultural capital, in regional growth processes and in local response processes to exogenous crises. To this end we aim at achieving the following objectives: i) developing the theoretical framework of territorial capital, highlighting the role of immobile resources in local economic growth and in its spatial differentials, and the role of human capital in resource valorisation; ii) building a national database of territorial capital in Italian provinces, containing synthetic endowment indicators for natural and cultural heritage, human capital, and structure and distribution of the tourism and leisure industries. Our methodology includes the application of multivariate, and later on econometric, analyses, with the relevant state-of-the-art techniques. We use already available European and national databases, making recourse to ad hoc integrations if and when needed. The study area is Italy; the optimal tier is NUTS3, i.e. provinces, in Italy. The time reference is the period from the early 1990s to the latest available year, to ensure a structural long-term approach