Contrasts in agglomeration: proto-industrial, industrial and post-industrial forms compared

Abstract

For geographers and economists, urban agglomeration remains an enduring feature of the industrial landscape and a perennial source of theoretical and empirical interest. Curiously, despite this long-standing interest, there has been a remarkable tendency to explain agglomeration with reference to Alfred Marshall's trinity of external economies and industrial district model. In this paper, we seek to draw some contrasts in the form and causes of agglomeration. Our discussion proceeds by developing a simple and highly schematic taxonomy of what could be considered the emblematic forms of agglomeration in proto-industrial, industrial and post-industrial urban contexts. Highly simplified though they are, such contrasts highlight the changes in the spatial extent of agglomeration, the contribution of particular industrial sectors and types of external economy and of exports to the process of agglomeration over time. As such, there is an urgent need to reconcile the perspectives of economists and geographers in a renewal of the theory of agglomeration.

A Network-based view of regional growth

“…From the perspective of the economic geography and development literature, a network capital perspective suggests that processes of endogenous development are in fact much more porous across regional boundaries, similar to the acknowledgement that agglomeration forces are never entirely locally bounded (Phelps, 1992). In particular, geographic clustering and industrial agglomeration theory is increasingly encompassing more diffuse forms of agglomeration, especially with regard to the type and geographic scale at which external economies become manifest, and the extent to which these are shared across regions and localities (Phelps and Ozawa, 2003;Phelps, 2004;Malmberg and Maskell, 2006).…”

Some dilemmas of post-industrialism in a region of traditional industry: The case of the Katowice conurbation, Poland

“…This listing of business ventures determining the development of formerly strictly mining or mining-industrial regions in Central-Eastern Europe, stresses three of the theoretical issues defined by Phelps and Ozawa (2003).…”

“…1), which is analysed in this article, an attempt is made to define the region's character using the taxonomy suggested by Phelps and Ozawa (2003), as pre-industrial, late-industrial and post-industrial stages. Black Country) and Liège (Liège Coal Basin);.…”

Individual Contacts, Collective Patterns - Prato 1975-97, A Story of Interactions

“…In fact, albeit local relations are still paramount, substantial parts of their production processes are often carried out outside their traditional area of operation (Maskell and Malmberg 1999;Leamer and Storper 2001;Phelps and Ozawa 2003). In particular, in Prato and elsewhere firms have become quite heterogeneous both with respect to size and innovative capability (Whitford 2001;Cainelli, Iacobucci and Morganti 2006;Di Maria and Micelli 2007).…”