Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
knowledge could increase creativity and innovation in a wider context than just the
focus upon one class, as in the Creative City approach (Chap. 10), although there is
recently a tendency to combine the terms in the Creative-Knowledge City concept
(Musterd and Murie
2010b
). Yet it is important not to be too carried away with these
ideas as the only solution to future economic success. Not all urban places can be
knowledge centres, especially in an innovative high-tech sense, for the number of
such centres is quite limited. There are still many other service and industrial ac-
tivities that can lead to urban economic successes by employing far more people,
although they can be helped by the addition of new knowledge innovations. Also,
the type of globalization of the last 30 years may well be transformed. There is no
guarantee that the Asian source of cheap labour will continue for ever, as Chinese
workers are demanding more wages and rights, which erodes the differential from
the Americas and Europe, while the rapid growth in innovation in China and other
Asian countries means that many have become even more competitive in creating
new products. Although there is a move to lower cost locations in places such as
Thailand or Bangladesh, some industries have started to return to developed coun-
tries by what is called on-shoring, although not at a scale to replace industries lost.
This might continue if transport or wage costs rise in Asia. Also, the development
of new technologies, such as 3D printers, that will allow the production of many
more goods in developed countries on a customized basis, may replace the need to
import many goods. This is an example of the capital substitution, in the form of
a new technology for labour. To take one example, much of the success of Toyota
lies in their corporate and workplace culture that not only focused on innovation but
values each worker and encourages them to seek ways of improving the way they
do their job, searching for ways of continuous improvement and lean production
systems (Liker
2004
). More generally the re-connection of research centres and
production places could produce what Clark (
2013
) has called 'working regions'
in a valuable recent topic. She argues that economic sustainability may be better
achieved if industrial locations had the capacity for production
and
innovation, and
German nodes such as such as Munich and Stuttgart seem to have achieved this
association. Also it is worth stressing that despite claims about a space-less world,
place does matter, for the costs of assembling the various factors of production at
various places are far from irrelevant for many industries, so some cities can build
on these advantages.
Recognition of the range of influences that affect knowledge-based development
led to the Capital System Inventory approach to cities. This identifies and measures
the many value elements that affect the ability of urban places to attract and retain
existing knowledge industries in order to understand their potential for growth. The
approach moves away from the silo-like approaches to development, where vari-
ous policies operate mainly in one sector of the economy of the city. It emphasises
that real progress has to be based on the involvement of many stakeholders and
the creation of a knowledge-sharing culture and a continuous knowledge develop-
ment. This relies on the social context as much as the economic, to create what
are increasingly described as technological ecosystems full of linkages that pro-
vide the opportunity for self-creating growth. The addition of knowledge activities
