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The ability to 'network' between businesses and local institutions has been the subject of numerous studies and has fueled a line of multidisciplinary research which has made it possible to highlight the complexity of local systems and the interconnection between culture, economy and society. On the political-institutional side, the image of a 'virtuous' territory has been built which, through these links, strengthens its ability to create 'value' both by successfully adapting to the new complexities brought about by the neoliberal system and by exploiting the opportunities it offers. In fact, economic indicators overall show an increase in production after a succession of repeated pre- and post-pandemic crises. However, these same networks prove inadequate to effectively counter the increase in small entrepreneurs in economic difficulty. Starting from my recent field experience in Brianza, this article aims to illustrate some situations that have required the intervention of social services, but also the difficulty of these in developing intervention projects on people/families atypical with respect to social groups normally recipients of aid. Their atypicality lies in the fact that normative categories such as 'unemployed', 'poor', 'marginalized' cannot be uncritically reproduced in their regard, through which services normally develop intervention practices and ways of defining problems, before 'identification/activation of specific social networks in the area. Affected by the crisis and excluded from the benefits of the economic recovery, these subjects, central figures of the neoliberal society project, end up turning to social services when the legislative provisions to protect the business activity prove inadequate and when the family economic situation is now compromised.

The current epoch is characterised by a series of critical events that have upset fieldwork research and continue to affect it. The industrial district of the Brianza has always proved to be resilient and capable of overcoming market turbulences, but the rapid sequence of critical events in an industrial context already exposed to other frailties is producing further uncertainty and liminality. The researcher is likewise facing his own uncertainties. The time lag between the observation of the fast changing situation and the writing moment which, occurring necessarily after the observation period, seems to be unable to keep up with the shifting reality. Thus, both interlocutors and researcher are seeking new conceptual inventories in their own ways to understand the present and imagine the future in a context of prolonged liminality.

The current epoch is characterised by a series of critical events that have upset fieldwork research and continue to affect it. The industrial district of the Brianza has always proved to be resilient and capable of overcoming market turbulences, but the rapid sequence of critical events in an industrial context already exposed to other frailties is producing further uncertainty and liminality. The researcher is likewise facing his own uncertainties. The time lag between the observation of the fast changing situation and the writing moment which, occurring necessarily after the observation period, seems to be unable to keep up with the shifting reality. Thus, both interlocutors and researcher are seeking new conceptual inventories in their own ways to understand the present and imagine the future in a context of prolonged liminality.

This paper aims to examine whether industrial parks, industrial districts, science and technology parks and business incubators could be considered as precursor forms of cluster development. In this regard, we conducted a descriptive analysis of the common and different aspects that arise in various forms of spatial organization of business. We decided to compare them two by two to observe, in a detailed form, how industrial parks, industrial districts, science and technology parks and business incubators resemble or differ from the innovative form of spatial business organization, the cluster. Thus, the paper focuses on contextualizing and conceptualizing the forms of spatial organization of business by researching the literature, identifying specific elements in an orderly and relevant sense. The research technique is that of reviewing the specialized literature. The documentary literature identified in the Web of Science database was used as documentary sources, especially on the scientific articles that attest to the different types of spatial organization of business. The work does not stop only at industrial parks, industrial districts, science and technology parks and business incubators and goes beyond a classic business approach, to one focused on innovation, such as clusters. Based on the characteristics identified in each of the materials studied, we presented the cluster so that it reflects what it represents at the moment, namely an innovative form of spatial business organization.

Within the 4th industrial revolution (IR), firms’ linkages to global knowledge are considered key to improving the innovation capabilities and competitiveness of firms embedded in local industrial districts (IDs). So far, most of the analyses have focused on the complementarity and integration between local and global networks, which have somehow over-shadowed the national dimension of production and innovation processes. With special reference to mechatronics producers, recent trends of Italian firms exploit the critical role of national innovation networks for firms within local systems. In this sense, the national dimension plays a key role in defining the quality and direction of the competitive models of ID firms integrating within global value chains.

Industrial districts face challenges after the advent of information technology (on line), which considers that places are not important but for some industry players and consumers to determine. Research aims to offer practical and implementable solutions for industry players so that their performance is at a minimum before or after moving to an industrial district. Journal research methods are used in this study with journal sources originating from reputable international journals and scopus indexed. The concept of the model of knowledge of communication adaptation is our finding. The concept model is derived from the industrial district theorem and organizational knowledge typology. Knowledge of communication adaptation is a mediating alternative between government perceptions and industry players. Concept definitions are explained in this study

This paper deals with the location, origins, and early development of clusters and industrial districts in the agribusiness sector. It considers the case of the meat processing industry in the second half of the 19th century in Catalonia, a prosperous southern-European region in the period when this industry emerged. By constructing an index of potential locations at the municipal level, the paper discusses whether, and to what extent, deterministic factors explain the genesis of pigmeat processing clusters. The paper concludes that although these latter factors need primary consideration, contingency, particularly human agency, may also play a non-negligible role. As an illustration, this study pays particular attention to the cluster of Vic, which developed around this middle-sized town in central Catalonia. It became a leading meat cluster in early 20th-century Spain, even though it was not better suited to this industry than other Catalan localities where meat companies had also emerged.

We have entered the 21st century facing a global trend of massive urbanization leading to an increasing concentration of population in relatively few, large cities. This exacerbates the share of GDP produced in cities (80%). Today, more than 54% of the world population lives in a city and this number will likely increase by the end of this century to 80%. This trend implies a redefinition of what a city, and what an agglomeration, is. There is then no doubt that the city has become the central point in various social sciences and that agglomeration economics have become an important topic in development economics. Smart Cities have become in this context an important topic in Regional science and in applied economics and geography. There is no doubt that the development of new technologies and especially information technologies have created their own issues. Actually, Smart cities are combining a production function and a housing and living environment one. But one can also see “Smart cities” as a new form of the industrial district issue. Regional science has known an important development since the late 1980 when the Marshallian concept of the “industrial district” came back to favour and became major a topic in development studies. The turn from the “industrial district” to “smart cities” is a much more recent one. But still in smart city studies as in industrial district ones, the same range of issues, some of them purely economic and others more politically oriented, are at stake

Ciudad Pegaso was promoted by the Empresa Nacional de Autocamiones (ENASA), linked to the Instituto Nacional de Industria, to provide housing for its employees. It is an early example of an industrial district created by the urban policies of the time (sketches 1949, fi rst phase 1956, second phase 1960). There, the Falangist ideas of the “Ciudad del Movimiento” (an organic and gated city in which the class struggle is overcome by their juxtaposition in the same space) come together, and on the other hand, the tendency of the regime in favor of segregation of the working masses in suburban neighborhoods as a form of social control, come together.

Italy’s industrial districts of the Northeast are often cited as beings models of success due to their economic organisation, thus they have almost become an archetypal myth. One of the reasons for the Northeastern firms’ success is proximity (both geographical and relational), particularly with regard to the creation and development of the districts and their innovative and competitive capacity on a global scale. Our research compares the structures of proximity in Montebelluna, an industrial district in Northeast Italy, with Timisoara (in Romania), which has been one of the more favoured areas of delocalisation for Veneto firms. This comparison made it possible to focus on the non-economic categories (such as trust, face-to-face relations, cooperative attitudes, local context…) that have contributed to a large part of their success, although, in reality, they are often overvalued. Above all, the analysis reveals how these Italian industrial districts have concealed an unequal distribution of power, not only inside the firms and between the firms, but also between the firms and their delocalised territories. Today the “Northeast” model is questioned and debated; however a rethinking of regional dynamics is only possible if these hidden dimensions of district development are taken into consideration.

This research applies Nelson’s (1993) primary typology of enterprises to understand why the propensity for innovation varies across ceramics district innovation systems in Europe. We use innovation systems and industrial district theories to explore the innovation capacity of the two most important ceramic tile industrial districts in Europe—Emilia Romagna in Italy and Castellon in Spain. Our analysis shows that, in both districts, innovation plays a decisive role in allowing companies to maintain competitiveness in a globalizing market. However, by comparing the composition of their district innovation systems, our analysis shows that: (i) although levels of competition in both districts are similar, cooperation is stronger in Italy; (ii) scarce technology and advanced service providers in Spain make it predominantly a follower in the adoption of innovation; (iii) higher innovation intensity in Italy is due to diffusion of technology from firms in neighbouring districts specialized in other industry sectors. We provide strong evidence indicating that differences in the industry mix shape both national and district innovation systems.

Industrial activity in Semarang growing along the north coast corridor as Wijayakusuma Industrial District along with the movement of other cities dominated modes of trucks helped shape the traffic density and increase the load on the highway. Railway container emerged as alternative modes of land transportation by utilizing a double track on the line across the north. This mode is suitable for the delivery of logistics in large-scale industry. Based on the background research is conducted with the aim to study the role of railways in the mode of distribution of logistics from the Wijayakusuma Industrial District. This research uses descriptive quantitive approach. Based on the analysis results can be concluded utilization of railway mode of container is not optimal compared with trucks. In terms of the access road to the Station Pethek not in accordance with the designation of container vehicle fully loaded. Loading and unloading facilities are still lacking to support the efficiency of the time. In terms of container train travel time is still ahead of the truck for destination Jakarta about 1-2 hours and 15-25 minutes for destination Surabaya, where the truck using the combination of toll and non toll road. But if The Trans-Java toll fully operational then trains can not compete if don’t make improvement in infrastructure and operating system. From the aspect of cost railway mode will be much more efficient if the cost of feeder truck can be pressed.

The strategy of the institutionalization and development of business agglomerations, in any of its analytical aspects (industrial district, local production system, cluster, etc.), has not had great results in Spanish regions with low business-density, probably due to the difficulty of finding an adequate implementation framework in administrative, geographic, and institutional terms. Based on the limitations presented by the identification methodologies of business agglomerations in low business-density territories, in this work we propose some methodological corrections that allow for reconciling these economic realities with the institutional and geographical framework offered by the local action groups (LAGs). This reconciliation is a useful tool to take advantage of the economies of agglomeration and, consequently, to explore the possibilities of endogenous development in rural areas, so that it can be a factor to take into account when planning and executing the public strategy of local and rural development. Finally, the results obtained for the specific case of Extremadura, the only Spanish region listed as a less developed one in European rural development policies, are presented.

In Tomorrow! A Peaceful Path to Real Reform (1898) Ebenezer Howard proposed a blueprint for an ideal society, in which he formulated his solution to the ‘Land question’—roughly speaking, the conjoined phenomena of the overcrowding of towns and cities, and the so-called ‘rural exodus’. His was a vision of a ‘Social City’: a ‘Central City’ surrounded by six satellite towns or ‘Garden Cities’, all with limited numbers of inhabitants. The famous diagrams and maps show how complex and detailed and even fastidious Howard’s investigation of the topic of land reform had been before he ventured to publish his views on the subject. While his programme is usually known for these spatial aspects, the other core elements of the Garden City programme are actually not about planning or mapping, but about the proposed social organisation. In the introduction to his only book, Howard makes it clear that two out the three ‘proposals’ from which he initially drew inspiration were themselves influenced by the pregnant ideological template of industrialism: Buckingham’s ‘Model Town’ of Victoria and Alfred Marshall’s ‘industrial district’. Howard purported to transcend the apparent contradiction between socialism and capitalism by planting his vision firmly on the common ground of these two supposedly incompatible conceptions of society. Ebenezer Howard’s ‘Garden City’ proposal is thus arguably the most accomplished formulation of a plan for an ideal social model along the main lines of the collective psyche and experience of industrialism.

The paper analyzes an emblematic case of collaboration between companies and community in a particular region - the footwear district of Montebelluna in Italy - where institutions are created to support and help to overcome obstacles, such as competition against countries with insurmountable cost advantages. A theoretical study and a field research on a cluster were made, reaching the conclusion that collaboration allowed the differentiation of the products and displacement of part of the production, without compromising the local base. The institutions of the district acted as protagonists, formatting the model of “multi located district.”

The paper is dedicated to the analyses of preconditions for the creation and development of local production systems (LPS) at the territory of Ukraine as recognized by international law. Theoretical part of the research highlights LPS as a specific type of economic agglomeration and represents the comparison between traditional agglomerative forms (metropolises and industrial districts) and more innovative alliances (LPS and creative regions). The peculiarities, advantages and participants of LPS are considered also in the theoretical part. Analytical part of the research determines spatial concentration of industry based on traditional industrial districts. Also specific legal regimes for the regions of Ukraine such as special (free) economic zones, priority development areas, technology and science parks are considered preconditions for LPS development. Finally, currently operating LPS in Ukraine and recommendations for their development are presented.

Craft village is an attractive research subject, however it is rarely treated as a form of industrial agglomeration or studied from industrial sociology perspective. The current development of craft villages demonstrates the intensive presence of entreprises of all sizes and involvement of non productive actors (e.g. local authorities, education sector). The introduction of new actors therefore implies a change of existing relationships, contributing to the formulation of new configuration. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that the organization of craft villages, as a type of industrial district, is marked by instability or permanent change in the overall configuration, but also by an internal transformation in entreprises/organizations in the district. Through a case study in Bát Tràng, a pottery and ceramic production center in northern Vietnam, this paper will present the reorganization of household workshops toward a more formalized structure ; mobilization of social capital as solution for difficulties ; and innovation strategies of entreprises.

The industrial district theory has brought to the development economics the opportunity to interpret the economic change through places, where it actually is formed, as a result of the join action of the local and extra-local social, economic and institutional forces. This paper sets out to discuss the contribution that the industrial district theory can make to the debate on the spatial dynamics of agri-food systems in the age of globalisation. To this end, the first part of the paper analyses the contribution of the industrial district approach in the relationship between industry and territory; the second part studies the evolution of the concept of the agri-food system and the main determinants of the spatial dynamics in modern agri food systems. This paper supports that the industrial district theory can shed a new light on the spatial dynamics of agri-food systems, and can offer an alternative to the mainstream approach. In using the local community as a unit of analysis, the ID theory gives a key role to human agents of production and their knowledge and the agri-food system can be seen as 'a global network of places', each place being specialized in a different component of the system.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have played a prominent role in the process of industrialization Spanish. These SMEs have been favored by specific policies from different regions have been able to promote. Specifically Technological Institutes and Centers Business Services have been the drivers and where these policies have been channeled. Recently the implementation of programs to promote innovative clusters (Agrupaciones de Empresas Innovadoras) which are coming to synthesize stimulus policies for the development of SMEs in the Spanish case.

This paper provides a comparison study of industrial districts in two European countries, Spain and Sweden, using the conceptual framework of corporation. The relevance of this approach is based on the specific qualities that the industrial districts have, including the preexisting conditions, local traditions, products and production characteristics, marketing strategies, local policies and present challenges. The findings indicate the ways in which different patterns of inter-firm relationships, organization of production and dynamics of local alliances have shaped divergent regional responses to the industrial construction.

En anteriores trabajos han sido analizados los comportamientos diferenciales, en cuanto a la eficiencia en los procesos de producción, entre las empresas ubicadas dentro de un hipotético distrito industrial y las situadas fuera del mismo. A su vez, este objetivo ha sido abordado haciendo uso de medidas no radiales de eficiencia técnica. Los resultados alcanzados aportan una valiosa información que permite cuantificar el llamado efecto distrito en un momento dado del tiempo. Sin embargo, los conocidos cambios en el mercado y en el propio comportamiento de las empresas aconsejan estudiar este efecto distrito desde un punto de vista dinámico. En este trabajo se aporta esta nueva visión mediante el uso de Índices Malmquist de productividad. Esta metodología nos permite analizar cómo han evolucionado las diferencias de comportamiento en términos de eficiencia productiva entre las empresas de dentro y las de fuera de un distrito a lo largo de un período de tiempo. Se lleva a cabo una aplicación empírica para un conjunto de pymes industriales del sector cerámico ubicadas en España durante el periodo de expansión económica, 1996-2007. ABSTRACT In previous works have been analyzed differential, behaviours in efficiency in the production processes, between enterprises located within a hypothetical industrial district and located outside. In turn, this objective has been addressed by making use of technical efficiency measures. The achieved results provide valuable information that allows quantifying the effect called district in a given moment in time. However, known changes in the market and own behaviour of companies advice study this district effect from a dynamic point of view. This work provides this new vision using indexes Malmquist productivity. This methodology allows us to analyse how evolved behaviour differences in terms of productive efficiency between companies within and outside of a district over a period of time. Carries out an empirical approach for a set of the ceramic sector located in Spain during the period of economic expansion, 1996-2007.

The industrial district of Castellon is characterized by a great dynamism based on technological innovation, both product and process, the origins of which are to be found on its providers (1), the machinery industry and the frit, glaze and colours industry. In this paper the current situation of the frit, glaze and colour industry is analyzed, accounting also for the situation of its main European competitor in Italy. The formation and development of the industry is also described in relation to the industrial district and the innovation system where it belongs, together with the R&D activity, the innovation activity, and the main technological milestones that have made it become the world leader. The analysis shows the challenges to which this subsector, and more generally, the tile innovation system need to react to, by means of cooperation, in order to maintain the tile district leadership. Globalization implies new behaviours and one of the most relevant is the increase of cooperation among the different actors in the innovation system.El distrito industrial de Castellón se caracteriza por un gran dinamismo fundamentado en la innovación tecnológica, tanto de proceso como de producto, cuyo origen está básicamente en sus proveedores (1), la industria de equipamiento mecánico y la industria de fritas, esmaltes y colores cerámicos. En este artículo se analiza la situación actual de la industria de fritas, esmaltes y colores cerámicos española, atendiendo además a la situación de su mayor competidor europeo, Italia. Se describe también la formación y desarrollo de la industria en el entorno del distrito cerámico de Castellón y de su sistema de innovación, se analizan, asimismo la actividad en I+D e innovación así como los hitos tecnológicos que le han llevado a ocupar un liderazgo mundial. El análisis realizado identifica los retos frente a los que el subsector y, en general, el sistema de innovación cerámico necesitan reaccionar, cooperando, con el fin de mantener el liderazgo del distrito cerámico. La globalización implica nuevos comportamientos y uno de los más importantes es el aumento de la cooperación entre los actores del sistema de innovación.

As a departing point, the paper presents the historical genesis of the concept of industrial district focusing on the scientific views of the pioneer of this field, Alfred Marshall. The concept has its origins in the observation of the current industrial reality, mainly of the British one. The purpose is to give an explanation to the difficulties of the classic theory and to study the challenges of the class conflicts. The economic conditions which launched British industrial districts were present, grosso modo, in Italy after the second World War. Some contributions have dealt with the little industrialisation of some Italian regions and using Marshallian thoughts have rediscovered the industrial districts phenomenon. This is the starting point of a high number of scientific contribution in Italy and abroad. Some of these international studies, particularly the ones made by Spanish experts, are quoted. The text analyses the link between districts-made in Italy with the competitive advantages of Italian products in many economic activities (i.e. clothing, shoes, furniture, etc.). Finally, in the third part the paper reviews some new contributions on the industrial district in Italy.

This paper provides an in-depth case study of the ink-jet printing (IJP) technology that emerged from the ceramic industry in a Spanish region (Castellon) in the first decade of 2000. We propose an analytical framework that combines the theoretical perspectives of Industrial Districts and Innovation Systems, and exploit a qualitative methodology that includes information from patent and scientific article databases and 21 in-depth interviews. Our results show that IJP is a major innovation that breaks with the tradition of machinery innovations in this industry in Spain. Micro-level evidences show the complex external and internal relationships in the sharing of knowledge and innovation process, being the role of internal ties, trust, secrecy and strong in-house R&D strategies determinants of the IJP innovation.

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY AND REGULATION THEORY - This article examines the relations between the economic geography of the 1990s and recent economic theories. After a presentation of the origins of the theory of regulation and convention theory, the relations between them and spatial analysis are outlined. The second part of the article develops a typology of contemporary research in spatial economics outlining the key features of the following concepts: industrial organisation, industrial district, network, governance and conventions. Finally it compares approaches which proceed respectively from analysis of the local and the global. The conclusion proposes a number of directions for research

Baseado em estudo feito no Distrito Industrial Fazenda Botafogo, no município do Rio de Janeiro, este artigo analisa a possibilidade de aplicação conjunta em distritos industriais brasileiros de um modelo de sistema de gestão ambiental (SGA), o modelo Hackefors, criado para facilitar a obtenção da certificação ambiental ISO 14.001 por empresas de pequeno e médio porte de distritos industriais na Suécia. O modelo Hackefors, surgido em 1997 no distrito sueco que lhe deu o nome, foi adotado por 450 empresas de 24 distritos industriais daquele país, basicamente, por ter possibilitado a certificação ambiental a cada empresa que a ele aderiu, com ganhos individuais e coletivos para as mesmas. Para a elaboração deste artigo, foi analisada a literatura sobre distritos industriais e sistemas de gestão ambiental e, também, consultados documentos relativos ao modelo Hackefors e ao Distrito Industrial Fazenda Botafogo. Além disso, foram entrevistados consultores que trabalharam na implantação do referido modelo, representantes das empresas do distrito industrial carioca e especialistas em certificação ISO 14.001. Esse esforço permitiu comparar as duas situações e fazer algumas considerações sobre a aplicação do modelo sueco em Fazenda Botafogo. O resultado mostra que as diferenças entre as situações iniciais de atuação ambiental nos dois distritos não são um empecilho à construção de redes. Revela ainda que as semelhanças existentes sugerem que a aplicação do modelo Hackefors no distrito industrial do Rio de Janeiro poderia ser bem-sucedida. Por outro lado, em Fazenda Botafogo não foi identificado nenhum fator que transformasse a busca individual por um sistema de gestão ambiental nos moldes da ISO 14.001 numa busca coletiva, como ocorreu nos distritos industriais suecos.