The Birmingham Jewellery Quarter: A Marshallian Industrial District

The paper presents the findings of a study on the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter at its zenith from 1880 to 1920. Drawing on a unique database covering four decades and secondary data, it has been possible to map out the organization of production, the degree of firms' specializations, and extent of production and social networking within the Quarter. Such evidence seems to suggest that the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter was a Marshallian industrial district at the turn of the nineteenth century.     

The Problem of Organizing a Food-Supply Base for the Yeniseysk Industrial District

The author examines the possibilities of developing a local food supply for the growing population of the prospective Yeniseysk industrial district of central Siberia. Local conditions are found to be economical for the production of a suburban-truck type of farming, with emphasis on fresh vegetables, potatoes and whole milk, as well as pork, poultry and eggs. Grain production is found to be uneconomical and the district will have to rely on grain shipped from other areas.     

Doing Archaeology as a Feminist: Introduction

Gender research archaeology has made significant contributions, but its dissociation from the resources of feminist scholarship and feminist activism is a significantly limiting factor in its development. The essays that make up this special issue illustrate what is to be gained by making systematic use of these resources. Their distinctively feminist contributions are characterized in terms of the recommendations for “doing science as a feminist” that have taken shape in the context of the long running “feminist method debate” in the social sciences.     

Improbable Art: The Creative Economy and Sustainable Cluster Development in a Hong Kong Industrial District

A noted Singapore-based cultural geographer and specialist on Asia analyzes the emergence and functioning of a unique artistic cluster in Hong Kong's Fotan light industrial district. The objective of the research is to understand how artistic work in the cluster, despite some challenges, has thus far proven sustainable in cultural, social, and economic terms. The findings of this case study permit further clarification of several dimensions of an emerging theory of cultural/creative clusters, which should be considered as distinct from business and industrial clusters. Selective comparisons between the Fotan cluster and the Moganshan Lu cluster in Shanghai demonstrate that cultural/creative clusters do not face uniform challenges in striking a balance between economic and cultural sustainability.     

The Industrial District and the 'New' Italian Economic Geography

The industrial district is one of the theoretical concepts by which Italian economic geography has redefined a large part of its scientific and methodological status. The successful of industrial district is linked to the explanation of the Italian model of light industrialization, that is to the role played by small firms in Italian manufacturing industry. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to know that industrial district was introduced as a theoretical paradigm to stress the territoriality of the production process and the gain of productiveness and innovativeness for the firm which sources from the embedding of economic activity within the local society where the production takes place. Support for this approach is found in the Marshallian external economies. This article addresses the importance of industrial district from the point of view of this neo-Marshallian reading of the organization of production. This framework of reference provides the basis for the formulation and implementation of local policies which recast traditional economic, social and infrastructural ones as specialist policies aimed at the creation of the institutional and environmental conditions for the competitiveness of places.     

Envisioning Seoul as a World City: The Cultural Politics of the Hong-dae Cultural District

This article explores how the vision of a world city influences local cultural politics, by looking at an attempt to construct a cultural quarter in Seoul, South Korea. The Hong-dae area of Seoul has a reputation as a vibrant place of urban amenities, emerging cultural forms, and neighbourhoods of cultural workers and artists. In 2003, the city government announced a policy to create a Cultural District in the area. Subsequently, local conflict over defining Hong-dae culture emerged, and the plan was later postponed. This study elucidates how the proposed policy, framed by a vision of Seoul as a world city, led local actors to territorialise, fossilise, ethnicise and capitalise Hong-dae culture. It argues that competition for world city status may politicise and territorialise urban cultural scenes, rather than enhancing the urban amenities of diversity, openness and tolerance.     

An Industrial District Facing the Challenges of Globalization: Prato Today

Industrial districts and clusters of small- and medium-sized enterprises specializing in manufacture are an important feature of the Italian economy (Becattini, G. & Coltorti, F. (2006) Areas of large enterprise and industrial districts in the development of post-war Italy. A preliminary survey, European Planning Studies, 14(8), pp. 1105–1138). The textile district of Prato is an exemplary case of the industrial district model (Becattini, G. (2001) The Caterpillar and the Butterfly. An Exemplary Case of Development in the Italy of the Industrial Districts (Felice Le Monnier: Firenze)), contributing 25% of the Italian exports of woollen products. The paper analyses the recent transformations of Prato facing the winds of globalization and in particular the dual challenge of global pressure from outside the district (due to competition from new industrialising countries) and from inside it (due to an ethnic economy formed by Chinese immigrants). The paper concludes with some recommendations for the revitalization of local development, and sketches a possible course for the Prato district.     

Innovation and Change in the Marshallian Industrial District

One of the relatively neglected aspects of studies of industrial districts is that of processes of innovation and structured change. In the paper, a preliminary theorization is offered, with evidence from a case in Tuscany. The paper concludes that creative capacities embedded at the local level may be valuable in this respect.     

Industrial Location as a Bargain: Iceland and the Aluminium Multinationals 1962–1994

This paper conceptualizes industrial location, specifically in the form of foreign investment, as a bargaining process to provide a framework within which to examine Iceland's deals with aluminium multinationals between 1961 and 1994. These deals involve one actual and one planned investment in aluminium smelters. Conceptually, it is argued that the interpretation of industrial location as a bargaining process can be readily incorporated within the geography of enterprise tradition by explicitly recognizing that location factors are not given datum but are created by negotiations among parties whose interests may overlap but do not coincide. In this paper, the main parties are the Icelandic government and aluminium multinationals. While both parties were interested in investments in smelters which would ultilize Iceland's power resources, the initial agreement in the 1960s depended on Iceland's acceptance of foreign investment as an appropriate vehicle of development and the ability of the parties to agree on power supply, power rates and taxation, location, and some jurisdictional issues that had not been anticipated. This deal has since been revised although the impact of the obsolescing bargain is not noticeably evident. The Iceland government has brokered another deal with other multinationals although this project has been put on hold due primarily to unforeseen events in the global economy. Still controversial, the actual and potential structure of Iceland's aluminium industry results directly from these bargains.     

西部新兴工业城市中心区志的定位与实践

分析西部新兴工业城市的中心区与东部老城市区的相同之处与明显差别。结合攀枝花市东区的特点,在修志实践中初步确定“立足小东区,着眼大东区”的方针,结合实际探索经验。