Nicholas A. Phelps

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

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 Marshalls 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.

Tying the Firm to the Region or Tying the Region to the Firm? Early Observations on the Case of LG in South Wales

In 1996 the Korean conglomerate LG announced plans to create up to 6100 jobs at a new greenfield electronics manufacturing operation in Newport, South Wales. The investment would have been unthinkable without the unique institutional capacity involved with inward investment attraction and development which exists in Wales. However, the scale of the LG investment has placed enormous demands on this institutional capacity and raises questions regarding the way in which major investments effectively capture the strategic orientation and resources of local institutions and serviceproviding organizations. In this article we explore some of the main dimensions of such institutional capture as revealed by an initial examination of the LG case.

The New Post-suburban Politics?

Settlements variously termed ‘ex-urbs’, ‘edge cities’, ‘technoburbs’ are taken to signal something different from suburbia and as a consequence might be considered post-suburban. Existing literature has focused on defining post-suburbia as a new era and as a new form of settlement space. Whether post-suburbia can also be delimited in terms of its distinctive politics is the open question explored here. The paper begins by considering the need to make urban political theory more tailored to the different settlements that populate the heavily urbanised regions of nations. The paper stresses the structural properties of capitalism that generate differences within the unity of the urbanisation process. It then discusses what is new about a class of post-suburban settlements, concentrating on what the increasing economic gravity of post-suburbia, the difficulty of bounding post-suburban communities and the continuing role of the state imply for understanding urban politics and the reformulation of urban political theory.

A Postsuburban World? An Outline of a Research Agenda

The emergence over the last 30–40 years of what is variously termed edge city, edgeless, and postsuburban development in North America and elsewhere raises a set of challenges for urban theory and existing ways of understanding the politics of urban growth and management. These challenges and their global import have been outlined in their broadest terms by members of a ‘Los Angeles School’. In this paper we try to develop the detail of some of these challenges in ways that might allow for comparative analysis. We begin by considering three analytical dimensions along which distinctively postsuburban settlements might be identified. These dimensions are not without their limitations but we regard them as a heuristic device around which to centre ongoing comparative research. We then go on to highlight three political contradictions attending postsuburban growth which appear to flow from some of these defining dimensions. To the extent that such postsuburban growth and politics are distinctive, they pose important challenges to established theories of urban politics. We briefly consider these challenges in the conclusion of the paper.

Devolution and the territorial politics of foreign direct investment

In this paper, we consider the possible effects of devolution on the territorial politics of foreign direct investment (FDI), focusing on two regions in particular: Wales and the North East of England. Informed by recent work on the politics of spatial scale, the paper draws attention to the role of regional actors in supporting processes of globalisation from below whilst also suggesting that regions are produced from above through processes of FDI-led globalisation and state rescaling. We explore the territorial politics of FDI in the UK through the central notion of an Inward Investment Service Class (IISC). This concept enables us to operationalise our ideas of ‘bottom up’ globalisation and ‘top down’ regionalisation by focusing attention on the role of a specific set of economic development interests within the two regions. The paper argues that while the notion of an IISC highlights important relationships within Wales and the North East, it is questionable whether the groups identified actually function as an identifiable coalition. In terms of how devolution might shape approaches to FDI in the context of pre-existing institutional differences between Scotland, Wales and the English regions, we suggest that the prospect of increased inter-regional competition for FDI may be balanced by inter-regional collaboration. In conclusion, the authors stress the need for further research to advance our understanding of how processes of globalisation from below actually operate.

(Post)Suburban Development and State Entrepreneurialism in Beijing's Outer Suburbs

Chinese cities are experiencing rapid urban expansion and rampant land conversions in periurban areas. Has Chinas suburban growth gone beyond commonly noted ‘suburbanisation’? To what extent does fast metropolitan growth reflect state entrepreneurialism after economic reform? The authors seek to elaborate further and contextualise Chinese suburban and postsuburban development and examine the underlying dynamics of state entrepreneurialism in the process of metropolitan development. The empirical basis of this research is a case study of the historical development of Yizhuang, an outer suburban new town of Beijing. The city originates from the establishment of the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone in 1992, but has passed rapidly through several phases of growth. The pattern of growth reveals both the complexities of adequately defining and delimiting such a growth node within the metropolitan fabric and of the states intimate involvement in its development and evolution.

Capital Versus the Districts: A Tale of One Multinational Company's Attempt to Disembed Itself

Abstract The process of international economic integration in which multinational enterprises (MNEs) play a significant orchestrating role is a contradictory one of a space of flows, on the one hand, and a space of places, on the other hand. It is this contradiction that produces a variegated landscape of relations within and among MNEs and a whole range of territorially rooted organizations and institutions. As a result, interest in global production networks, as part of a broader relational turn in economic geography, has sought to highlight and uncover these webs of relations within which MNEs are embedded. In reviewing this literature, we emphasize the economic imperatives underlying such relations or, rather, their political-economic nature and the discontinuities in industrial restructuring they can produce. We then present an empirical illustration of these points and some of the key concerns within the literature on global production networks. We consider a recent round of restructuring by Black & Decker Corporation, focusing on the politico-economic ramifications of closing one of two European factories. Our reading of the literature, coupled with our empirical findings, suggests the continuing tendency for international integration as a space of flows to eclipse the coherence of places. Localized points of resistance can moderate the powers exercised by MNEs internally and across a network of organizations, although there are limits to the transferability of such tactics of resistance.

Gaining from Globalization? State Extraterritoriality and Domestic Economic Impacts-The Case of Singapore

Abstract States have authored elements of globalization—deploying strategies to exert themselves extraterritorially. Such extraterritorial dimensions of state strategy are intimately connected to economic interests—although the economic interests in question and the geographic manifestations of extraterritoriality have varied historically for individual nation-states and continue to vary among different nation-states. This article examines one important example of this phenomenon. The rapid industrialization of Singapore at a time of rapid international economic integration has created a unique degree of urgency, depth, and breadth among contemporary state strategies of extraterritoriality. Drawing upon original research on joint-venture industry and technology parks in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and India, the article examines the extent and nature of economic benefits to the Singapore economy leveraged through this particular strategy of extraterritorialization. The modest scale of these benefits confirms both the limits of state strategies that are aimed at, and elite discourses regarding, “gaining from globalization.”

Encore for the Enclave: The Changing Nature of the Industry Enclave with Illustrations from the Mining Industry in Chile

abstract Conceptual innovation with respect to the enclave concept has been virtually absent compared with industry agglomerations. This is despite the fact that some varieties of agglomeration distinguished in the literature appear to come close to what previously were regarded as industrial enclaves and despite frequent allusions to the enclave nature of economic spaces produced by contemporary processes of globalization. Bringing the literature on agglomeration and enclaves into dialogue, we revisit the concept of the enclave—a concept that has been largely neglected since it enjoyed a popularity in connection with the study of particular (notably extractive) industries and particular (notably dependencia) theories of national economic development during the 1960s and 1970s. Much has changed since this time, which suggests that the concept of the enclave ought to be ripe for reevaluation. In this article we take an initial step in this direction, identifying analytical dimensions to the enclave and illustrating different manifestations of enclaves in the mining industry, drawing on the case of Chile. We conclude by advocating the renewed study of industry enclaves within contemporary economic geographic analysis. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

Do Gates Negate the City? Gated Communities’ Contribution to the Urbanisation of Suburbia in Pilar, Argentina

Pilar is a city located in the third ring of the Buenos Aires metropolitan region (Argentina). Over the past 30 years, the widespread development of gated residential communities has seemingly gone hand-in-hand with an urbanisation of this outer suburb signalled by the arrival of new populations, enterprise, retail and other services. The growth of the ‘private city’ of these gated communities therefore has important implications for the ‘public city’ of the wider suburban municipality. Drawing upon original research based on the opinions of key informants, this paper considers how the growth of the ‘private city’ has contributed to the economy of, processes of community-building and social cohesion in Pilar. In conclusion, it is suggested that gated residential communities have been a major factor in the emergence of the dual suburb that is Pilar today.