This study investigates how neighbourhoods respond when they are upset by transient, exogenous shock(s). Do they quickly revert to their original, stable state, gradually return to this stable state, permanently settle into another stable state, diverge progressively from any steady state, or evince no discernable pattern of response? A self-regulating adjustment process promoting stability appears the norm, based on econometric investigations of multiple, annually measured indicators from census tracts in five US cities. Stability quickly re-established at the original state characterises most of the indicators analysed: rates of tax delinquency, low-weight births, teenage births and home sales volumes. Violent and property crime rates also evince endogenous stability at the original state, but take considerably longer than the other indicators to return to it when the exogenous shock is sizeable. Moreover, this crime adjustment process is considerably slower in neighbourhoods with higher poverty rates.

This study presents a conceptual framework for analyzing urban resilience in the context of climate change. The key conceptual elements of resilience are first identified and then reorganized with a focus on cities and climate change adaptation. This study covers not only ecological and engineering resilience but also resilience as a sociopolitical process from an evolutionary perspective. The study's conceptual framework centers on resilience as it relates to cities and climate change. Its findings are expected to shed light on future urban planning and policies for adapting to climate change.

This study aims to present an integrated theoretical framework of sustainable local and regional development with an emphasis on social economy theory. The theoretical literature on social economy and sustainable local and regional development are reviewed and integrated focusing on the obstacles of sustainability and the function of social economy in local and regional development. Conflict and competition among sustainability values necessitates agreement and cooperation among those who embrace such values. Social enterprises are the core components of a social economy that reflects local and regional needs and pursues complex goals. In the social innovation process, social enterprises collaborate with various stakeholders regarding their business and social goals. Social enterprises have positive effects that influence local and regional development by satisfying local and regional needs, creating jobs in the community, developing relational assets in business processes, and restoring community solidarity. In social economy theory, social enterprises can facilitate sustainable local and regional development by including relational assets which embody social capital in social innovation processes. In the context of local and regional development, relational assets are important reinforcements of institutional capabilities, networks, and community or regional cooperation. Although social enterprises are not the dominant resources in traditional local and regional development, they can solve problems related to collective actions by networking and applying social norms to the situation.

This study empirically explores the relationship between innovation performance and the internal and contextual factors driving technological innovation in manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in metropolitan areas of Korea using structural equation modeling (SEM). Our analysis is based on firm-level data from the Korean Innovation Survey conducted by the Science and Technology Policy Institute in 2012. According to the results, SMEs' innovation capacity was positively related to technological innovation performance, and SMEs' skills and technology acquisition is a contextual factor that positively influences their innovation performance. In this process, SMEs' innovation capacity is a partial mediator between skills and technology acquisition and SMEs' technological innovation performance. Moreover, the results show that the relationship between government and public policies and SMEs' innovation performance is mediated by SMEs' internal innovation capacity. The results imply that both skills and technology acquisition and government and public policies are important contextual factors can increase SMEs' innovation performance. Based on the results, this study provides implications for policy makers in terms of the policies that provide both direct and support roles in fostering and sustaining innovation, which drives regional economic growth and development.

This paper measures and identifies the effects of urban form on travel behavior in Korea. The characteristics of urban form include urban size, density, distribution and clustering. Using cluster analysis, urban form in Korea is categorized into two groups: group 1 (i.e., large-sized, high-density, equally distributed and highly clustered areas) and group 2 (i.e., small-sized, low-density, unequally distributed and highly dispersed areas). The results showed that the large-sized, high-density, unequally distributed and dispersed pattern is a relevant strategy for both groups to minimize vehicle kilometers traveled (VKT) per capita. For group 1, increasing the average travel distance may be an efficient strategy to reduce the number of automobile trips. For group 2, however, decreasing the average travel distance may be a more efficient strategy. Previous recommendations for a so-called compact urban form require more validation before adoption in Korea. Different strategies are required for areas that show different characteristics in order to reduce VKT. It is important that planners and policy decision makers understand the relevant implications of urban form on travel behavior and energy use in order to implement spatial urban developments aimed at sustainability. JEL Classification

This study empirically applies the spatial switching regression method to an analysis of regional income club convergence across the 177 economic areas in the contiguous US states over the period from 1969 to 2008. As functionally defined, these economic areas represent the relevant regional markets for labor, products and information. The result of spatial switching regression reveals that the initial gaps between economic areas relative to average global initial per capita income appear to have declined, but the two spatial clubs exhibit a significant difference in their income convergence processes over the period. The estimated coefficient of the convergence parameter for the peripheral spatial regime is negative and highly significant, indicating that a convergence process exists in this spatial regime. However, there is no statistically significant evidence of convergence in the core spatial regime, implying the possibility of different patterns in the growth dynamics of the core spatial regime. JEL Classification

K42, D01, R00,

This paper investigates the extent to which innovative activity in a metropolitan area is affected by knowledge spillovers in the neighboring metropolitan areas as well as in the metropolitan area itself. The spatial econometric analysis shows that innovative activity in a metropolitan area is positively affected by both specialization and diversity externalities in high technology industries in the metropolitan area, and that there also exist geographic knowledge spillovers across metropolitan boundaries. In addition, this study finds that high technology specialization externalities are more localized than high technology diversity externalities.