The industrial district: A stage of a diffuse industrialization process—the case of Roanne

The industrial district is an important element of the theoretical debates concerning the appearance of original features of regional development in Europe. Issuing from Marshallion theory, this concept was ‘reinvented’ in the late 1970s in order to interpret a series of ‘regional success stories’ of industrial development that occurred in middle Italy. Thus, for some economists and geographers, the industrial district has become a new ‘standard’ of regional development, appearing as an autonomous integrated system, whose functions are based on the principle of ‘automation’. This system represents an optimal structure in terms of economic efficiency and resource allocation, and owns its proper mechanisms of reproduction related to specific territorial regulations. A crisis for such a system can only be related to exogenous factors. Rejecting this static vision of economic structures, which reintroduces the ‘growth/crisis’ divide in the analysis of economic development, it seems necessary to promote a more dynamic approach in terms of ‘change through continuity’. This approach was initially developed by some Italian authors who tried to analyze the original features of regional development in the Third Italy in terms of ‘industrialization without fracture’. This approach does not deny the existence of industrial districts, but refuses to accept that they are static: districts can evolve, change, develop . . . Thus, they appear as a particular stage of development in a diffuse industrialization process. Their evolution is no longer simply related to exogenous variables but also to endogenous ones; and this evolution does not necessarily lead to an implosion or a complete transformation of space but can also lead, through the continuity of the industrial district's mechanisms, to a post‐district organizational configuration.     

1995-2005年越南堤岸华族状况的演变

在以前研究结果的基础上,通过实地调查的方法,本文分析了受访家庭于1995—2005年间在经济和认同方面的演变情况。结果显示,华人族群规模正在逐渐缩小;族群间通婚的数量增加;来自台湾、香港、新加坡和柬埔寨的华人在经济活动中十分活跃;华族聚居区的总体情况与国家经济改善的大趋势一致,但财富增长的分布不平均;华人在经济、文化、教育等方面作出了积极提高社会地位的努力。由此得出结论,华人社区在越南经济活动中发挥了重要作用,华族在经济和认同方面的集中化进程正在加速。     

Makaynûn and its territory: the formation of an urban centre during the South Arabian period in the Hadramawt

Work at the site of Makaynûn in eastern Hadramawt (Yemen) and surrounding territory has yielded information on ancient settlement patterns in southern Arabia. This small regional centre lay within an area marked out by a network of seasonal flood‐water cultivation systems that irrigated agricultural areas. Each system was associated with one or more villages that were contemporary with the central site. As well as providing a communal refuge, the central site contained religious buildings, dwellings and doubtless the residence of the local elite, within the shelter of a defensive enclosure. This territory was overlain by a symbolic geography defined by the location of the sanctuaries and cemeteries of the Makaynûn community. This model of settlement was repeated all along the valley, where comparable systems were found at the mouths of the main tributary valleys.     

Exploit or Protect Airport Regions from Urbanization? Assessment of Land-use Restrictions in Amsterdam-Schiphol

Airports are no longer only places for take-off and landing, but increasingly became economic nodes in the urban development of metropolitan areas. Though it is debatable to what extent aviation growth is a cause or effect of economic growth, the reciprocal relationship cannot be denied. Most past developments near airports have been spontaneous and haphazard, but recently regional planners have increasingly included an airport focus. Airport planning aims to find a balance between exploitation of the economic potential and protecting the airport area from congestion and urbanization. This article examines the effects of land-use restriction policies near Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Within the Schiphol area, only airport-related companies are allowed to establish their business near the airport. These policies have been implemented since 1987, but their success or failure was never evaluated in depth. For the first time empirical results show that land-use restriction policies could ban most of the undesired businesses near the airport. However, despite varieties of implementation and interpretation of the testing, few differences in effects are found. This study shows that airport-relatedness testing is a typically Dutch planning instrument, but can also be useful for other international airports.     

Economic integration and the diversification of regional exports: evidence from the Canadian-U.S. Free Trade Agreement

We investigate the impact of Canada–U.S. trade integrationon the degree of export diversification of the Canadian regions.Trade integration is captured through the decrease of trade-weightedtariffs that were boosted by implementation of the Canadian–U.S.Free Trade Agreement. We found strong evidence to support integration'slong-run impact on the patterns of absolute exports diversification.Significantly, this new finding remains robust to the exclusionof the primary sectors and to the potential presence of unitroot in the data. Our results lead us to support a positivelong-run relationship between trade integration and export diversification.