Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
in the economy. Successful innovation requires its integration into the social and organi-
sational contexts (Malerba, 2006).
Lipsey et al. (2005) also include organisation in the concept of technology, because
that is a necessary condition to enable the process of production and consumption.
Organisation can be a condition for the development of technology, but it can also be
a result of the introduction of new technology (Kim, 2005). Chandler (1962), Chandler
and Mazlish (2005) and Gottmann (1961) have argued that the rise of skyscrapers, the
technology of steel construction, the introduction of the elevator, together with telecom-
munication and the car, have forced corporate America to adapt both their economic
and their spatial organisation. Currently, the introduction of ICT again forces many
enterprises to adapt to new challenges and to reorganise their production and benei t
from 'new windows of locational opportunities'. This process of reorganisation in
relation to the rise of new technologies has had a strong impact on the organisation of
economic space, in the sense of locations, as in that of the structure of connections and
networks (Gay and Dousset, 2005). In section 5 ICT is dealt with more extensively.
Andersson (1981) has indicated three fundamental factors determining structural eco-
nomic change: (1) reallocation of resources; (2) quantitative expansion of the resource
base; and (3) technological development. In earlier theories of economic growth the i rst
two factors were considered to be more important for regional economic development.
The focus of economic theories has changed to the third factor: technology and other
forms of knowledge.
Technological development has three principal inl uences on economic and spatial
structures:
1.
Rising productivity , with concomitantly increasing incomes and consumption oppor-
tunities (houses, cars, household appliances). It also leads to important shifts in the
coni guration of manufacturing industries and services. Combined, these shifts have
a strong impact on the location of i rms and households.
2.
Declining costs of distance . The declining costs of transport and communication of
goods, people and information can restructure the space of locations of production
and consumption. However, to realise these cost-reductions enormous investments
are needed, which often have been i nanced with public means.
3.
Stronger agglomeration advantages . The combination of rising incomes and lower
transport costs with the availability of trains and cars has led to spill-over ef ects and
strong urbanisation processes with the concentration of innovation and economic
growth in certain regions.
Within agglomerations, the economic actors can use space and information more ei -
ciently, which can result in lower transport and transaction costs as well as in a more
ei cient organisation of production and consumption.
The development of the new GPTs has, directly and indirectly, af ected the various
spatial patterns, as Boschma (1994) has investigated for Great Britain and Belgium. Here
again it is necessary to emphasise that the time-horizons of the gradual and structural
changes within the triangle of relations can dif er. The introduction of technologies like
steam power, electricity, engines for cars and airplanes, and more recently informa-
tion and communication technology (ICT), has provided important drivers of changes
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