Large cities are a key driver of technological innovation and economic growth. This paper investigates the developments of Italian metropolitan areas, building on insights from economic geography and innovation studies. The key questions to be investigated are the following: (i) Which trajectories of population and economic change can be identified for Italian metropolitan areas? Are we facing a process of economic and technological polarisation that may worsen the country’s imbalances? (ii) What is the role played in such developments by technological and structural change, and in particular by digital technologies and the rise of finance? The empirical analysis investigates the patterns of technological and economic indicators for the period 2000–2018 for 14 Italian metropolitan areas, proxied by their provinces, providing evidence of growing polarisation between Milan, where most positive developments are concentrated, and the other metropolitan zones. Rome has been losing ground in most fields; Venice and Genoa are characterised by industrial decline. Few mid-sized cities show some economic dynamism—including Bologna and Cagliari—while most southern and insular Italian cities increase their gap relative to the performances of leading metropolitan areas.
{"title":"The polarisation of Italian metropolitan areas, 2000–2018: structural change, technology and growth","authors":"Giuseppe Simone","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsae036","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsae036","url":null,"abstract":"Large cities are a key driver of technological innovation and economic growth. This paper investigates the developments of Italian metropolitan areas, building on insights from economic geography and innovation studies. The key questions to be investigated are the following: (i) Which trajectories of population and economic change can be identified for Italian metropolitan areas? Are we facing a process of economic and technological polarisation that may worsen the country’s imbalances? (ii) What is the role played in such developments by technological and structural change, and in particular by digital technologies and the rise of finance? The empirical analysis investigates the patterns of technological and economic indicators for the period 2000–2018 for 14 Italian metropolitan areas, proxied by their provinces, providing evidence of growing polarisation between Milan, where most positive developments are concentrated, and the other metropolitan zones. Rome has been losing ground in most fields; Venice and Genoa are characterised by industrial decline. Few mid-sized cities show some economic dynamism—including Bologna and Cagliari—while most southern and insular Italian cities increase their gap relative to the performances of leading metropolitan areas.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2024-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142601955","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused economic crises and increased inter-regional economic disparities. However, the catalyst effect that the pandemic has had on digitalization may change the traditional pattern of internal migration, in favour of rural areas. Using time-sensitive register data we explain changes in net migration rates of German districts from an economic geography perspective. We show that, since the beginning of the pandemic, rural regions benefited more from migration. In particular, younger and highly skilled individuals increasingly move to rural areas. This confirms that rural regions can benefit from increasing remote work, but these effects differ across region types and individual skill levels.
{"title":"Rural areas as winners of COVID-19, digitalization and remote working? Empirical evidence from recent internal migration in Germany","authors":"Louis Knuepling, Rolf Sternberg, Anne Otto","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsae033","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsae033","url":null,"abstract":"The COVID-19 pandemic has caused economic crises and increased inter-regional economic disparities. However, the catalyst effect that the pandemic has had on digitalization may change the traditional pattern of internal migration, in favour of rural areas. Using time-sensitive register data we explain changes in net migration rates of German districts from an economic geography perspective. We show that, since the beginning of the pandemic, rural regions benefited more from migration. In particular, younger and highly skilled individuals increasingly move to rural areas. This confirms that rural regions can benefit from increasing remote work, but these effects differ across region types and individual skill levels.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"36 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2024-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142541375","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ibrahim Shaheen, Steven Brakman, Jacopo Canello, Harry Garretsen
This article explores how firm interconnectedness determines firm-level resilience. We argue that firms that engage in outward foreign direct investment are more interconnected, and therefore better equipped to deal with structural and economic shocks, than firms that are not engaged in outward foreign investment. Interconnectedness is measured along two dimensions; cross-border firm linkages and embeddedness in interconnected regions. We use a sample of 13,000 Italian manufacturing firms during the period 2008–2011. We find a positive association between firm interconnectedness and resilience. Moreover, we find the firms that operate in more interconnected regions to be more resilient than firms that operate in relatively isolated regions. Our results offer new insights into the complex interaction between firm and regional interconnectedness.
{"title":"Firm interconnectedness and resilience: evidence from the Italian manufacturing","authors":"Ibrahim Shaheen, Steven Brakman, Jacopo Canello, Harry Garretsen","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsae034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsae034","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores how firm interconnectedness determines firm-level resilience. We argue that firms that engage in outward foreign direct investment are more interconnected, and therefore better equipped to deal with structural and economic shocks, than firms that are not engaged in outward foreign investment. Interconnectedness is measured along two dimensions; cross-border firm linkages and embeddedness in interconnected regions. We use a sample of 13,000 Italian manufacturing firms during the period 2008–2011. We find a positive association between firm interconnectedness and resilience. Moreover, we find the firms that operate in more interconnected regions to be more resilient than firms that operate in relatively isolated regions. Our results offer new insights into the complex interaction between firm and regional interconnectedness.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"34 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2024-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142487583","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Flows of construction minerals in the Oslo region are studied in a multi-scalar perspective. Urban densification and construction of infrastructure result in large volumes of gravel and stone which according to law is waste. Waste is landfilled in the hinterland putting pressure on socio-ecological qualities. Lack of regional planning promoting circularity implies municipalities in the hinterland have to regulate land for landfills. Norway has a competitive advantage in construction minerals and prices on virgin, compared to recycled construction minerals are relatively low. Combined with a planning regime supporting linear resource governance, the consumption of virgin construction minerals and farmland in the hinterland is de facto stimulated. Differences are identified between the Oslo region and some city regions in the core of Europe concerning the level of progress towards a circular economy. A distinction between resource-rich and resource-strapped regions is proposed as part of an explanation of such differences.
{"title":"Construction minerals as part of an urban circular economy? A multi-scalar study of the city of Oslo and its hinterland","authors":"Bjørnar Sæther","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsae030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsae030","url":null,"abstract":"Flows of construction minerals in the Oslo region are studied in a multi-scalar perspective. Urban densification and construction of infrastructure result in large volumes of gravel and stone which according to law is waste. Waste is landfilled in the hinterland putting pressure on socio-ecological qualities. Lack of regional planning promoting circularity implies municipalities in the hinterland have to regulate land for landfills. Norway has a competitive advantage in construction minerals and prices on virgin, compared to recycled construction minerals are relatively low. Combined with a planning regime supporting linear resource governance, the consumption of virgin construction minerals and farmland in the hinterland is de facto stimulated. Differences are identified between the Oslo region and some city regions in the core of Europe concerning the level of progress towards a circular economy. A distinction between resource-rich and resource-strapped regions is proposed as part of an explanation of such differences.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2024-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142236798","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
John R Bryson, Andrew Herod, Jennifer Johns, Vida Vanchan
Creating a circular economy (CE) is considered central to solving problems like climate change and resource depletion. In this context, the concept of global destruction networks was developed to better theorise using waste in new production. However, CE advocates also seek to avoid waste production by extending products’ lives. These efforts occur within what we term waste reduction networks. Examining how these two sets of networks intersect allows a fuller understanding of the CE’s emergent geographies. We analyse 17 European and US clothing firms focussed on value creation through waste minimisation to illustrate our argument.
{"title":"Localised waste reduction networks, global destruction networks and the circular economy","authors":"John R Bryson, Andrew Herod, Jennifer Johns, Vida Vanchan","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsae026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsae026","url":null,"abstract":"Creating a circular economy (CE) is considered central to solving problems like climate change and resource depletion. In this context, the concept of global destruction networks was developed to better theorise using waste in new production. However, CE advocates also seek to avoid waste production by extending products’ lives. These efforts occur within what we term waste reduction networks. Examining how these two sets of networks intersect allows a fuller understanding of the CE’s emergent geographies. We analyse 17 European and US clothing firms focussed on value creation through waste minimisation to illustrate our argument.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141980585","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Promoting the circular economy (CE) increasingly draws on regional approaches. But in particular the potentially supportive role of regionally provided innovations requires more exploration. This paper suggests an expanded categorization of innovation demands for the regional CE and integrates them into an enriched conceptualization of the challenge-oriented regional innovation system (CORIS). How the proposed framework can guide regional analysis and strategy building is then illustrated by the empirical case study of the German ‘Circular City’ Aachen. Structuring obtained information according to CORIS components reveals which requirements are met, but also which innovation deficiencies should be tackled locally.
{"title":"How can a regional innovation system meet circular economy challenges? Conceptualization and empirical insights from Germany","authors":"Martina Fromhold-Eisebith","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsae024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsae024","url":null,"abstract":"Promoting the circular economy (CE) increasingly draws on regional approaches. But in particular the potentially supportive role of regionally provided innovations requires more exploration. This paper suggests an expanded categorization of innovation demands for the regional CE and integrates them into an enriched conceptualization of the challenge-oriented regional innovation system (CORIS). How the proposed framework can guide regional analysis and strategy building is then illustrated by the empirical case study of the German ‘Circular City’ Aachen. Structuring obtained information according to CORIS components reveals which requirements are met, but also which innovation deficiencies should be tackled locally.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"160 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2024-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141730490","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Matthew Thompson, Charlotte Cator, David Beel, Ian Rees Jones, Martin Jones, Kevin Morgan
This article conceptualises the circular economy as a space of immaterial, as well as material, metabolic flows mediated by capitalism and planetary urbanisation. World-ecology provides us with the critical lens to view the circular economy as part of an emergent regime of accumulation that may supersede neoliberalism. However, if each regime entails new frontier zones for appropriating cheap natures and dumping wastes, then the circular economy—as a strategy for revalorising waste—presents a possible structural limit to capitalism’s further expansion. Moreover, when combined with notions of degrowth and doughnut economics, the circular economy may provide an imaginary and set of prefigurative practices that point towards a postcapitalist economy. Through a case study of Amsterdam—a city aiming to be fully circular by 2050—we examine this contradictory crossroads, problematising the idea of circularity within capitalism and exploring the potential of postcapitalist alternatives within the circular economy.
{"title":"Amsterdam’s circular economy at a world-ecological crossroads: postcapitalist degrowth or the next regime of capital accumulation?","authors":"Matthew Thompson, Charlotte Cator, David Beel, Ian Rees Jones, Martin Jones, Kevin Morgan","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsae022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsae022","url":null,"abstract":"This article conceptualises the circular economy as a space of immaterial, as well as material, metabolic flows mediated by capitalism and planetary urbanisation. World-ecology provides us with the critical lens to view the circular economy as part of an emergent regime of accumulation that may supersede neoliberalism. However, if each regime entails new frontier zones for appropriating cheap natures and dumping wastes, then the circular economy—as a strategy for revalorising waste—presents a possible structural limit to capitalism’s further expansion. Moreover, when combined with notions of degrowth and doughnut economics, the circular economy may provide an imaginary and set of prefigurative practices that point towards a postcapitalist economy. Through a case study of Amsterdam—a city aiming to be fully circular by 2050—we examine this contradictory crossroads, problematising the idea of circularity within capitalism and exploring the potential of postcapitalist alternatives within the circular economy.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2024-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141584210","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In the context of the increasingly present policies of circular economy and the emergence of “Circular Bioeconomy” (CB), this article presents the results of a literature review on the sociometabolic research of biomasses. Six schools of thought are identified and distinguished according to their authors, their conceptions of metabolism, methodologies and social and spatial dimensions. Based on this state of the art, we propose an analytical framework that combines quantitative and qualitative approaches at the territorial scale, drawing upon the currents of Territorial Ecology and Political Ecology. This framework enhances our understanding and provides a critical perspective on the geography of CB. We compare discourses to actual practices by analysing biomass flows and power relations while adopting a critical perspective toward circular economy policies.
{"title":"Towards a Territorial and Political Ecology of “circular bioeconomy”: a 30-year review of metabolism studies","authors":"Simon Joxe, Jean-Baptiste Bahers","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsae020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsae020","url":null,"abstract":"In the context of the increasingly present policies of circular economy and the emergence of “Circular Bioeconomy” (CB), this article presents the results of a literature review on the sociometabolic research of biomasses. Six schools of thought are identified and distinguished according to their authors, their conceptions of metabolism, methodologies and social and spatial dimensions. Based on this state of the art, we propose an analytical framework that combines quantitative and qualitative approaches at the territorial scale, drawing upon the currents of Territorial Ecology and Political Ecology. This framework enhances our understanding and provides a critical perspective on the geography of CB. We compare discourses to actual practices by analysing biomass flows and power relations while adopting a critical perspective toward circular economy policies.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"77 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2024-07-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141553334","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Recycled plastics value chains are being collaboratively constructed amid calls for greater responsibility of the corporates driving today’s plastic waste crisis. The resulting ‘responsibility fix’ bolts new arrangements onto linear production processes, offering a mechanism to push linear processes towards circularity, while starting to patch up some of the social and economic injustices associated with waste-picking work within contemporary systems of capitalist production and consumption. This research draws upon semi-structured interviews to trace international collaborations within recycled plastics value chains to identify how new, low-disruption, circular business models are being built.
{"title":"Responsibility fixes: patching up circular economy value chains","authors":"Anna Barford, Saffy Rose Ahmad","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsae018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsae018","url":null,"abstract":"Recycled plastics value chains are being collaboratively constructed amid calls for greater responsibility of the corporates driving today’s plastic waste crisis. The resulting ‘responsibility fix’ bolts new arrangements onto linear production processes, offering a mechanism to push linear processes towards circularity, while starting to patch up some of the social and economic injustices associated with waste-picking work within contemporary systems of capitalist production and consumption. This research draws upon semi-structured interviews to trace international collaborations within recycled plastics value chains to identify how new, low-disruption, circular business models are being built.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2024-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141521344","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mari Wardeberg, Henrik Brynthe Lund, Jens Hanson, Riina Kärki, Linda Rekosuo, Anna Tenhuen-Lunkka, Sarianna Palola
In this paper we mobilize sustainability transitions literature to explore directionality for circular economy (CE) transitions, by drawing on and adapting a framework for analysing roadmaps to empirically investigate CE strategies. Specifically, this paper explores circular economy CE strategy documents in the Nordics, the commonalities and differences between them and to what extent they provide directionality for CE transitions. Through a systematic document analysis of 39 CE strategy documents, we find that the strategy documents are vague and lack clear political visions. As such, we argue that the documents fail to provide clear directionality for CE transitions and question their usefulness. Additionally, the paper demonstrates how CE strategy documents can contribute to promoting the development of industries that couple to national ambitions for the development of new, green industries.
{"title":"Strategies for circular economy in the Nordics: a comparative analysis of directionality","authors":"Mari Wardeberg, Henrik Brynthe Lund, Jens Hanson, Riina Kärki, Linda Rekosuo, Anna Tenhuen-Lunkka, Sarianna Palola","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsae017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsae017","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper we mobilize sustainability transitions literature to explore directionality for circular economy (CE) transitions, by drawing on and adapting a framework for analysing roadmaps to empirically investigate CE strategies. Specifically, this paper explores circular economy CE strategy documents in the Nordics, the commonalities and differences between them and to what extent they provide directionality for CE transitions. Through a systematic document analysis of 39 CE strategy documents, we find that the strategy documents are vague and lack clear political visions. As such, we argue that the documents fail to provide clear directionality for CE transitions and question their usefulness. Additionally, the paper demonstrates how CE strategy documents can contribute to promoting the development of industries that couple to national ambitions for the development of new, green industries.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2024-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141320041","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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