Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
or pathways, that have created positive or negative values for the contemporary
situation, such as a reputation for excellence in particular skills, or research capa-
bility, or the negative perception from pollution spills or poor security. The latter
deals with spatial externality. One example is the ability of outside sources, from
governments to private organizations, to contribute to the city's stock and availabil-
ity of financial assets. Many cities complain that the services they provide should
be financed by a fairer sharing of general national tax revenues with cities, rather
than from ad hoc, project by project transfers. In some cases it may be possible for
the city to create its own taxation regime. Also in the external capital category is the
extent to which governments can change the rules that affect capital formation, such
as encouraging new business opportunities, or allowing more highly skilled people
into the country and hence the city, by changing immigration regulations. Another
element of the external capital is whether the
profits
that are generated by busi-
nesses remain in the city, and are also used effectively on its behalf. Although a city
can embark on a strategy to remove the negative features of the past, it is usually
dependent on outside agents to provide a positive externality in capital provision.
This Capital Inventory approach provides a comparative inventory and assess-
ment of urban settlements. Its main advantage is in identifying the advantages as
well as the problems of any town and city. But by exposing these issues it is useful
in helping to build consensus among interested stakeholders by identifying areas
where improvements are needed, especially when compared to other cities. This can
help develop priorities among the policies for future improvement. It can also be
extended, as in Carillo's scheme where a category called Output Capital identifies
and measures issues such as the products of the city during various time periods, us-
ing measures such as GDP and growth forecasts as summaries of the total output of
a city. However the interest here is upon identifying how the various elements in the
Capital Inventory can contribute to the generation of knowledge-creating activities
and upon the plans and policies to achieve this aim. Before dealing with such ap-
plied issues it does seem worth commenting on the fact that many of the components
of the type of Capital Inventory model shown in Fig.
11.2
contain echoes of older
ideas of the advantages of particular cities, from the nineteenth century emphasis
upon the importance of site and situation factors, to agglomeration economies from
physical infrastructures, as well as basic-non basic ideas and the more recent stress
on the importance of producer services in urban growth. In addition, the labour
element in human capital is clearly one of the traditional factors of production,
although the emphasis is now upon the educational, creative and entrepreneurial
qualities of the workers, as well as the additional attitudinal variables that condition
productivity and creativity. So the city is regarded as the site where activities such
as research may be generated and attracted, rather than as the passive container to
which various factors of production are brought. These new approaches view towns
and cities in an activist way; they are regarded as environments that may possess
both the desire and qualities to attract new knowledge activities by reason of their
own character, assets and visions.
