Transportation Amenities and High-Tech Firm Location: An Empirical Study of High-Tech Clusters

Abstract

Clustering and active transportation infrastructures have a significant impact on economic development strategies for attracting high-tech firms. High-tech firms cluster to create economies of scale. In theory, such clusters favor walkable and transit-accessible locations following the preferences of footloose workers of the creative class, an expectation that underpins pro-walkability and transit-accessible development strategies. Such approaches, however, fail to consider countervailing factors including changes in logistics, land values, the rise of the e-economy, and gig workers, which could result in a preference for auto-centric locations. This study addresses the knowledge gap by investigating differences in location behaviors of six high-tech sectoral categories with respect to transportation infrastructures. The analysis uses a firm-level micro dataset provided by Esri along with multiple logit regressions to explore the relationship between high-tech firm locations and transportation amenities in 627 high-tech clusters from the 52 largest U.S. regions. The results show that not all high-tech industries opt for walkable and transit-accessible locations. Compared with other high-tech specializations, professional services (i.e., data processing/computer or engineering and architectural services), which account for the largest share of high-tech employees, are drawn to walkable and transit rich areas near central business districts. On the other hand, auto-centric locations on the peripheries are home to aerospace and bio-pharmaceutical industries. In light of these findings, it is essential that economic development officials aiming to achieve balanced growth consider major local high-tech sector(s) and sectoral differences when making policy decisions.

The impact of high-tech industrial agglomeration on China’s green innovation efficiency: A spatial econometric analysis

“…Notably, some scholars have argued that as agglomeration grows in size, congestion effects will arise within agglomerations (Liu C. Y. et al, 2020;Zandiatashbar and Hamidi, 2021). However, we assert that high-tech industries react differently.…”

Relationships Between Walkable Urban Environments and the Creative and Knowledge Economies

“…Yu and Liu (2021) reinforce the notion that externalities related to agglomeration economies may vary according to different sectors. Among other results, Zandiatashbar and Hamidi (2021) point out that the walkability and accessibility of public transport increase the probability of locating professional services (architecture, engineering, design, education, etc.) but reduce it for the IT, aerospace and biopharmaceutical sectors.…”

Impact of Transit Quality on Anchor-Mediated Knowledge Economies Across Large U.S. Cities

“…In theory, knowledge economy industries and tech clusters favor walkable and transit-accessible locations, following the preferences of footloose workers of the creative class (referring to the ostensible socioeconomic class with the skillsets and education preferred by the knowledge-based firms), an expectation that underpins prowalkability and transit-accessible development strategies ( 26 ). However, empirical analysis recently showed that the relationship between transportation amenities and tech industries varies by the industry type ( 15 ). There are countervailing factors that play a role in knowledge economy industries, such as changes in logistics, land values, the rise of the e-economy, and gig workers, which could result in a preference for autocentric locations ( 6 ).…”

“…Compared with other high-tech specializations, professional services (i.e., data processing/computer or engineering and architectural services), which account for the largest share of high-tech employees, are drawn to walkable and transit-rich areas near central business districts. Conversely, autocentric locations on the peripheries are home to aerospace and biopharmaceutical industries ( 15 ).…”