Agency and resilience in the time of regional economic crisis

Using a comparative case study on the closure of the research and development facilities of a pharmaceutical company in two regions in Sweden, this paper investigates the emergence of regional economic resilience from an agency perspective. Findings include a networked region engendering agency from non-state actors whilst substantial state intervention is needed to facilitate agency from a less networked region. The paper finds broad confirmation that interactions of actors are due to how a region is organized and the contingencies of its institutional context. Collective agency depends on the ability of actors to align interests and coalesce agendas which, as shown by the two cases, can be based on shared regional affinity as in the case of Södertälje or innovation strategies as in the case of Lund. Regional economic crises bring forth conditions and impetus for temporary modes of cooperation that mobilize resources to launch adaptive resilience strategies. Conflicts in resource distributions or operational complexity make developing agency-based resilience challenging. Emergent regional outcomes from agency-based resilience from these two cases exhibit adaptation with the potential for adaptability in Lund, and adaptability with degrees of adaptation in Södertälje.     

On evolutionary economic geography: a literature review using bibliometric analysis

During the past few decades, there has been growing attention paid towards evolutionary economic geography (EEG) perspectives, methodologies, and concepts in various disciplines such as geography, urban studies, and regional science. In order to better understand the development of EEG studies, this paper employs multiple bibliometric analyses. Specifically, it examines the temporal evolution of keyword co-occurrence network and the reference co-citation network of EEG publications during the last few decades to reveal the temporal evolution and spatial distribution of EEG publications, scholarly communication, research fronts, and intellectual structure of the scientific field.     

INSTITUTIONAL EMBEDDEDNESS AND REGIONAL ADAPTABILITY AND RIGIDITY IN A CHINESE APPAREL CLUSTER

In recent years, the flexibilities industrial clusters may offer to firms within them have been questioned as inter‐firm linkages have, in some cases, locked‐in path‐dependent practices and increased economic rigidities. In this sense, the canonical path dependence model has tended to overlook such trajectories of cluster evolution and has not paid as much attention to the ways in which actors can affect path‐dependent processes. In this article, we build on this critique which has largely been developed in evolutionary economic geography to explore how a cluster becomes progressively locked‐in and how the knowledge base of an industry becomes homogenized, resulting in a loss of innovative dynamism and a slowdown in the growth, or even stasis, of the cluster. By focusing on a case study from China, the article investigates some of the ways in which different kinds of actors respond to external shocks, and the ways in which the resulting processes are fraught with tensions and divergences. In doing so, the article emphasizes that the association between trans‐local pipelines and innovation is not predetermined. The second theoretical contribution of this article lies in its attempt to reveal that all actors can be both path dependent and path breaking, and the process of co‐evolution can be driven by the heterogeneity and divergence of particular actors. Finally, we seek to contribute to existing literature by showing the potential advantages of working at the interface between evolutionary economic geography and other theoretical approaches.     

我国居民休闲参与的影响机制研究——基于CGSS2006的数据应用

文章以CGSS2006调查数据中10151位居民资料为基础,运用多层线性模型分析了个人和结构层次因素对我国居民休闲参与的影响。研究发现,尽管多数居民休闲参与的方差存在于个人层次的因素中,但是仍有约20%的总变异是由结构层次因素引起的。分析结果显示,在个人层次上,居民所属的世代、社会经济地位、个性对其休闲活动参与有显著影响:在结构层次上,家庭收入、职业类别、单位类型、都市化程度以及区域等因素与居民休闲参与有显著影响;在影响居民休闲参与中,结构层次因索给出了约束框架,并调节个人层次因素的影响力。     

THE ART OF NEOLIBERALIZING PARK MANAGEMENT: COMMODIFICATION,POLITICS AND HOTEL CONSTRUCTION IN PALLASYLLÄSTUNTURI NATIONAL PARK,FINLAND

Following the growth of nature‐based tourism, national parks and other protected areas have become important tourist attractions. This article examines the legislative process of revising the Act on Pallas‐Yllästunturi National Park, located in northern Finland, to enable the renovation and enlargement of the old hotel. The first draft of the government bill published in 2008 led to widespread public opposition, and thus, construction rights were reduced substantially before the new Act was passed in 2010. The main question of this article is why the Finnish government changed its policy on national park governance that had existed for decades. We assess the extent to which the changes in park governance can be interpreted as part of the worldwide neoliberalization of nature, as well as what kind of forces and values work against neoliberal management ideologies. We examine how the process of revising the Act proceeded in the Parliament and analyse on what grounds the hotel construction was defended and opposed in the discussions. Finally we ponder how the political disagreements are explained by neoliberal frames. We conclude that the neoliberal element was one part of the process, but it intertwined with local political reality creating results hardly resembling textbook definitions of neoliberal or classic liberal ideals. Mixed ideological principles, contextual economic conditions, and complex dependencies between individual actors create cases which must be analysed carefully to find out if neoliberal elements really exist and how they are transformed. Close relations between economic and political actors and creation of economic monopolies should raise doubts if vocabulary of liberalization is just a disguise of actions supporting hidden political and economic interests.     

THE EUROPEANIZATION OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT: LOCAL STRATEGIES AND EUROPEAN SPATIAL VISIONS IN NORTHERN FINLAND

By exploring the Europeanization of current practices of regional spatial planning, this article sets out to demonstrate the evolution of the European integration project. Specifically, by creating spaces of engagement to which the local and regional actors are “forced” to adapt, the emergence of European spatial planning has made planning practices at the regional level more complex and complicated. As such, the present study contributes to the current understandings of Europeanization by exploring the European integration process through the geographical conceptualizations of space and scale. These conceptualizations are used to illustrate the multidimensionality, complexity and subtlety of the geographies of Europeanization. The empirical investigations show that regional and local spatial policies are strongly engaged – both explicitly through the “technicalities” and implicitly through the “mentalities”– to the spaces of Europeanization. The engagement affects the effectiveness of sub‐regional spatial planning by promoting mismatches between the strategic frameworks and the material practices of the policy. Overall, the article illustrates that the geographies of Europeanization are continuous processes, which take place – often unrecognizably – in manifold discursive and material practices in various geographical contexts.     

Everyday life and water tourism mobilities: mundane aspects of canal travel

ABSTRACT

Tourism is frequently construed as unusual and extraordinary in contrast to the routines and predictability of work and home life. However, the tourism spaces are co-created through practices that are simultaneously mundane and unusual. Yet everyday touristic practices are seldom researched, especially regarding water tourism. The mundane strategies of creating the boatspace form an important part of the tourist experience of everyday life on canals of England. Movements of bodies in the space, gastronomic experiences, and hygiene practices studied here via ethnographic fieldwork (participant observation and semi-structured interviews with leisure boaters) become defining characteristics of the leisure boaters’ everyday. We show that spatial practices, temporal structures, and search for ontological security are essential elements of domesticating and co-creating the emergent boatspace, where physical and social space are negotiated between various actors.     

演化经济地理的理论基础及其在集群研究中的应用

演化经济地理主要研究经济景观的演化过程,其理论基础包括广义达尔文主义理论、复杂性理论与路径依赖理论。将演化经济地理理论引入集群研究,运用微观一中观一宏观多尺度相结合的方法,有助于深入理解集群演化的过程及其动力机制,打开集群内部的"黑箱"。微观视角关注企业惯例及其区位行为如何影响集群的演化过程与空间特征;中观视角关注集群的知识网络结构特征、企业间知识联系,与网络演化的过程;宏观视角关注集群系统的演化路径与动力机制,以及集群与外部环境的相互作用。然而,由于演化经济地理理论与方法目前尚处探索阶段,将其应用于集群研究中仍存在不少局限。最后,结合中国产业集群现状,提出若干研究议题,认为未来中国产业集群研究需要更加注重"演化转向"。     

Foreign direct investment and renewal of industries: framing the reciprocity between materiality and discourse

ABSTRACT

Informed by the evolutionary literature on economic geography, this paper develops a conceptual framework for analysing the complexity between foreign direct investment (FDI) and renewal of industries. Present contributions tend to explain the impact of FDI on regional industry evolution as a static, output-oriented phenomenon, that is, informed by an instrumental rationale in which the dynamism of FDI and regional industry development is linked to polarization of stagnation/decline vs. growth/development. Opposing this, we argue for an epistemological shift in approach to the reciprocity between FDI and renewal of industries as dynamism between material outcomes and discursive processes. To accomplish this, we build on key concepts and understandings from evolutionary economic geography; review the regional effects of FDI literature and build a framework sensitive to contextual dimensions of FDI. We focus on multinational companies’ practices and material outcomes in terms of regional spillovers and the discursive processes in terms of FDI narratives. This framework is exemplified by data from the salmon farming industry and the subsea industry in Hordaland and the oil and gas industry and the mining industry in Finnmark.     

尺度重组理论视角下的粤港澳大湾区建设研究

粤港澳大湾区建设是由中央政府推行的新的区域发展政策安排,旨在调控国家、区域和城市尺度之间的关系进而引导资本流动以实现特定的空间发展目标,因此可视之为新一轮国家的尺度重组。借鉴西方的尺度重组理论,本文主要从大珠三角城市在经济上的空间联系以及香港问题在政治上的领域关系等两个方面,探讨关系空间如何影响到国家的尺度重组,以及国家的尺度重组对城市的尺度重组的影响。研究认为,粤港澳大湾区建设在于重塑资本流动的地方空间,为“资本固着”提供社会活动平台,继续参与国际劳动分工,深化经济合作,提高区域的全球竞争力。与此同时,国家也通过尺度重组来解决经济全球化过程中出现的领域政治问题,通过新的空间规划把边界问题纳入一体化的经济发展体系之下,保证政治稳定。中央政府把国家建设的尺度下移到粤港澳地区,促进了粤港澳的城市发生多元尺度重组策略,包括城市内部的尺度上推和尺度下移,城市外部的合作联盟和尺度政治。最后,文章从区域发展的角度分析粤港澳大湾区建设带来的影响,讨论粤港澳大湾区的建设与实践对尺度重组理论的补充和对认识国家政治经济发展的启示意义。     

“Sometimes Climate Adaptation is Politically Correct”: A Case Study of Planners and Politicians Negotiating Climate Adaptation in Waterfront Spatial Planning

Today, spatial planning is expected to deliver climate adaptation and to manage, merge and balance various societal interests and priorities. To what extent proactive shaping of change is enabled by spatial planning practice is less explored. This paper illustrates how the ideals and ambitions of climate adaptation are manifested in waterfront spatial planning via a case study of Norrköping, Sweden. Based on interviews with spatial planners and politicians responsible for strategic urban development planning, our study identifies a divergence in ambitions, approaches and positions. In local development plans, the position taken has less to do with climate risk severity than with an area's perceived political and economic attractiveness. When perceived attractiveness is low, precautionary climate adaptation serves as a pretext not to develop, whereas high perceived attractiveness leads to negotiated pragmatism allowing continued waterfront exploitation. We also identify a fragmentation in spatial planning, with weak interplay between municipal comprehensive planning and local development plans, resulting in ad hoc, case-by-case planning. Furthermore, different planning actors are organizationally compartmentalized, creating unfortunate intra-sectoral silos. We conclude that the integrative, proactive and reflexive potentials of spatial planning to deliver climate adaptation have yet to be realized.     

行动者网络视角下江南水乡古镇空间演化路径——以周庄古镇为例

江南水乡古镇是江南地域社会经济活动的高度聚合体，而空间作为功能的载体，是古镇保护与发展中的关键一环。本文以周庄古镇为例，从行动者网络理论视角切入，解析不同旅游发展阶段古镇空间演化的行动者作用路径。研究发现，关键行动者意图、行动者网络结构的变化，推动了周庄古镇空间重构和演化。在观光旅游发展阶段，周庄镇政府为关键行动者，通过行政征召、专家带头征召等方式促成行动者网络的形成和发展，使古镇商业空间沿河街生长，文化体验空间呈团块状散布；在休闲度假转型阶段，市场力量开始发挥更大作用，行动者网络重新调整，进一步推动古镇商业空间网状渗透，文化体验空间条块衍生。本文认为古镇空间的实践建构应高度重视原住民这一行动者的作用。     

Globalization,Modes of Innovation and Regional Knowledge Diffusion Infrastructures

Firms increasingly transcend the boundaries of regional innovation systems in their search for technology and complementary capabilities, and only rarely can they build their knowledge bases on science system output alone. Whereas the former decouple firms from regional user–producer networks, the latter raises important questions concerning the role of local science and education system actors in industrial development. By applying the “modes of innovation” concept on a Norwegian region, this paper discusses how science and education institutions can respond to the challenges of knowledge base complexity and globalization. It concludes that such institutions may play a vital role in supporting knowledge-based development, albeit different from that of academic knowledge exploration followed by linear technology transfer to industry.     

ENVIRONMENTAL AND EVOLUTIONARY ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY: TIME FOR EEG2?

This article argues that recent proposals for environmental and evolutionary economic geographies (EEG 1 and EEG2) should be integrated; EEG² is used as “passing convenience” to make this case. EEG1's emphasis on environmental imperatives is loosely framed and needs a theoretical socio‐economic evolutionary base that is the central thrust of EEG2. Meanwhile EEG2 would be empowered by incorporating environmental concerns within its mandate. Moreover, both EEG1 and EEG2 share common roots in institutional methodologies, emphasize cumulative causation and path‐dependent behaviour, have strong interests at regional scales of analysis, and both are intimately tied to the causes and consequences of innovation. This article provides a rationale and suggests an integrative conceptual approach for developing EEG². In particular, the article outlines a conceptual framework that interprets EEG² in terms of co‐evolutionary socio‐ecological and multi‐scalar processes that are situated within a reasoned history interpretation of economic development. This framework further highlights the roles of path dependency, innovation, multinational corporations and value chains. How this multi‐scalar framework may be elaborated is then discussed around three themes: extending placed‐based analysis of localized clusters; broadening the scope of global value chain analysis; and re‐engaging the analysis of core–periphery relations. Ultimately the case for EEG² is to ensure that economic geographic perspectives are fully incorporated in debates over the co‐evolution of economy and environment, in research and policy terms one of, if not the, central challenges of development in the 21st century.     

基于演化理论的我国城市合作机理研究

全球化和区域竞争引发了广泛的城市合作实践。城市合作是特定地域空间中城市共生演化的动态过程,城市合作的形成与发展,是多种行为主体在多种环境因素和历史因素作用下互动博弈的结果。以新近兴起的演化经济学和演化经济地理学为基础,建构了一个城市合作研究的演化分析框架,探讨了城市合作的本质和内容,分析了我国城市合作模式的类别、演化过程和不同模式的有效性。城市合作的本质在于追求包括分享、匹配和学习三大效应的更高层级的集聚经济,演化理论可以为研究城市群的演化过程,探索适合我国国情和区域发展实际的城市合作模式。     

Writing up the region: anchor firm dismantling and the construction of a perceived regional advantage in Swedish news media

This study investigates how geographic representations and regional industrial identity in news media are used to mobilize local/regional actors and to attract inward and outward investments by mediating and narrating stories of the recovery and rebirth of a region in distress – that is, how media contribute to economic development in or of the region. The study targets media attention covering the dismantling and relocation of two regionally embedded life science and likewise anchor firms: the Pharmacia and Upjohn merger in Uppsala in 1995 and the closure of AstraZeneca's operations in Lund in 2010. By drawing on the method of framing and content analysis of news articles derived from a public media database, the analysis show that: (a) geographic representation and associations are intensified in times of media turbulence; (b) news coverage follows two subsequent phases (an initial ‘crisis’ phase and a following more optimistic ‘recovery’ phase) and (c) news media (as intermediary actors and arenas) by communicating ideas of a shared regional industrial identity contribute to the construction of a ‘perceived regional advantage’ (as understood and communicated by news media). Thus, regional industrial identity-building and how the region is perceived by internal and external audiences are important for regional development.     

The co-creation (of) culture? The case of Umeå, European Capital of Culture 2014

Culture is often promoted as crucial in efforts to achieve economic growth and social cohesion. In recent debates, greater attention has been directed at the importance of culture in creating democratic and just cities. Drawing on theories concerning participation, we study the processes of citizen participation in the creation of culture in relation to the European Capital of Culture in Umeå in Northern Sweden. The city has been praised for its focus on participation and the ‘co-creation’ of culture. We scrutinize the idea of co-creation, how it is filled with meaning by different actors, the way it is operationalized by city officials and cultural actors/practitioners and the possibilities for public participation and the power relationships at play in the city. We conclude that culture tends to be depoliticized and turned into an arena available for all on supposedly equal terms and ignores the very unequal terms on which different actors participate. It ignores how power relations affect and construct who gets to speak and be heard; that there are conflicting meanings of culture and co-creation and how power influences whose definition of culture is accepted.     

Strategic spatial planning – a missed opportunity to facilitate district heating systems based on excess heat

ABSTRACT

Strategic spatial planning is important for developing long-term visions and strategies towards regional and local sustainability. This paper explores if and how strategic spatial planning could be useful for overcoming some barriers related to new sustainable ways of heating residential areas, using district heating systems based on industrial excess heat. This longitudinal study builds on interviews with municipal and private actors in six Swedish municipalities. It highlights that important barriers can be overcome by influencing the design and location of residential districts and industrial activities. Further, it identifies missed opportunities in local spatial planning practice as stakeholders are involved late in the planning when much is set, leaving little space for stakeholders to have an impact. Consequently, there might be a lack of knowledge and expertise in how such issues could enhance planning. Strategic spatial planning could facilitate conditions for excess heat-based systems of district heating as it implies a broader systems perspective which could enhance a broader planning scope. Plan programs could bring about more strategic spatial planning processes as these require early stakeholder involvement. If taking stakeholder involvement one step further to stakeholder collaboration or co-production, an even broader planning scope would be achieved.     

Interpartner Legitimacy Effects on Cluster Initiative Formation and Development Processes

In spite of the growing interest in cluster initiatives (CIs) as a means of regional development, there are still few studies of CIs that offer an inside perspective. This article takes such an inside perspective, focusing on the internal legitimacy aspects of the formation and evolving processes of CIs. We propose the inclusion of interpartner legitimacy effects in order to better understand the formation and development of CIs. A case study method is applied on a Swedish CI in the tourism industry. Faced with the situation that their region was lagging behind other Swedish regions in the development of tourism, the actors were spurred to promote a CI. Its central purposes were to consolidate the regional tourism industry, strengthen the regional brand and to establish the entire region as a single coherent destination. This paper contributes to the research body of regional development and CIs by showing how different types of interpartner legitimacies hinder and facilitate the CI process.