The future of business establishments and the changing ... · • Shearmur, R. and D.Doloreux, 2016, How open innovation processes vary between urban and remote environments: slow

Work, mobility and agglomeration

The future of business establishments and the changing role of cities and agglomeration

Richard Shearmur, Prof.

Director, McGill School of Urban Planning

5th October 2017, Fredericia

Outline 1. Agglomeration

2. Changing work and changing establishments

3. What does this mean for agglomeration?

i. where does innovation take place?

ii. where does work take place?

4. Challenges for planning

5. What next?

1- Agglomeration and planning

- clusters.

- density.

- business parks.

- cities.

- ‘buzzing’ neighbourhoods.

Jane Jacobs Michael Porter Richard Florida

http://www.uwishunu.com/2012/07/old-city-district-presents-cool-wednesdays-every-wednesday-in-july-and-august-a-mid-week-version-of-first-friday/

1- Agglomeration and planning

- interactions.

- collaboration.

- networks.

- ideas.

- knowledge exchange.

INNOVATION CREATIVITY GROWTH

http://www.via-architecture.com/profile/blog/page/4/


• We think of economic activity as ‘located’.

• It happens somewhere.

• How to determine where it happens? i. where the jobs are. ii. where the real-estate is.

• If clusters and local interactions are good for the economy, then plan locations for them.


The work place

Places where employees and managers work

http://www.marieclaire.com/career-advice/news/a14362/female-boss-happy-worker/

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/open-plan-office-study_n_3810538



The new work place

Places where employees and managers have meetings and pass through

https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-4612808-stock-footage-businessman-with-smartphone-during-lunch-in-cafe.html

https://www.mnn.com/money/green-workplace/blogs/hot-desking-future-work-whether-you-it-or-not


This does not just affect offices

Industrial

• ease of coordination • digital printers • multiple small establishments • offshoring • reshoring

Retail

• on-line shopping • smaller stores - showrooms • warehouse location • help-lines • logistics and distribution

http://importservices.co.uk/construction-on-schedule-as-common-user-facility-at-london-gateway-logistics-park-nears-completion/

http://blogs.anderson.ucla.edu/.a/6a0115710a4d7d970c01b7c8dd68ba970b-pi

http://cliffcentral.com/futurology/futurology-physical-digital-retail-reboot/

How do we think about jobs?

• Sectors, occupations, professions...


How do we think about jobs?

• Sectors, occupations, professions...

• ...mobility


Hyper-mobile

Semi-mobile

Immobile


https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-2955367-stock-footage-businessman-working-on-tablet-computer-in-cafe-steadicam-shot.html

http://www.markgibsonphoto.com/static/1247.html

Hyper mobile workers


https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-2955367-stock-footage-businessman-working-on-tablet-computer-in-cafe-steadicam-shot.html

http://www.markgibsonphoto.com/static/1247.html

Hyper mobile workers


http://youvegotmaid.com/

https://www.chriscruises.com/naming-of-new-ship-captain-reminds-us-how-good-these-guys-are/

Semi-mobile workers


http://youvegotmaid.com/

https://www.chriscruises.com/naming-of-new-ship-captain-reminds-us-how-good-these-guys-are/

Semi-mobile workers


https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/329325791492185008/ http://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/heart-surgery-blog/2008/01/22/cardiovascular-disease-treatment-best-hospitals-and-surgeons/

Immobile workers


https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/329325791492185008/ http://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/heart-surgery-blog/2008/01/22/cardiovascular-disease-treatment-best-hospitals-and-surgeons/

Immobile workers


• The idea that agglomeration is necessary for interaction, innovation and creativity needs re-thinking.

• Two examples:

– the location of innovation activity

– clusters, employment centres and the economy in cities

3. What does this mean for agglomeration? i. The location of innovation

Innovative SME in periphery, t=1, nightime day 1

Innovative SME in city, t=1, nightime day 1

BUT......

i. The location of innovation

Innovative SME in periphery, t=2, morning day 1

Innovative SME in city, t=2, morning day 1


Innovative SME in periphery, t=3, morning day 2

Innovative SME in city, t=3, morning day 2


Innovative SME in periphery, t=4, summer

Innovative SME in city, t=4, summer


Innovative SME in periphery, t=5, conference

Innovative SME in city, t=5, conference


‘Traditional’ (Jacobs, Porter, Florida) static view of the geography of innovation

time

Less

inn

ova

tio

n

M

ore

inn

ova

tio

n

Agglomeration effects, Urban buzz

No agglomeration, Peripheral isolation

urban economic and social agents

rural economic and social agents


time

Spa

ce (

men

tal a

nd

geo

gra

ph

ic)

con

verg

en

t (q

uie

t) p

roce

sses

div

erg

ent

(in

tera

ctiv

e)

pro

cess

es

An alternative dynamic view


‘Urban’ innovator

Agglomeration Divergent process


Retreat, isolation Convergent processes


time

Spa

ce

(men

tal a

nd

geo

gra

ph

ic)

An alternative dynamic view co

nve

rge

nt

(qu

iet)

pro

cess

es

d

ive

rgen

t (i

nte

ract

ive

) p

roce

sse

s i. The location of innovation

‘Peripheral’ innovator




Retreat, isolation Convergent processes Sp

ace

(m

enta

l an

d g

eog

rap

hic

)

time

An alternative dynamic view co

nve

rge

nt

(qu

iet)

pro

cess

es

d

ive

rgen

t (i

nte

ract

ive

) p

roce

sse

s i. The location of innovation

CBD

Polycentric metro areas: a city of fixed spaces: activities – jobs in particular – still take place in the spaces shown

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/immigrants-chicago.htm

3. What does this mean for agglomeration? ii. Where does work occur in cities?

CBD

A city of trajectories

Workers coordinate the location and time of their intersecting trajectories using mobile communication technologies. The trajectories are not necessarily contained within the city.

ii. Where does work occur in cities?


Confusion between :

• static agglomeration (access to shared resources):

• dynamic ‘agglomeration’ (exchange of ideas, innovation)

http://www.kestonvillagehall.org.uk/

http://www.globaliz.info/port-economy.html


Confusion between :

• static agglomeration (access to shared resources): – airports, transport networks, labour pool,

large warehouses, local market.

– important for establishment expansion

& growth.

– linked to (physical) agglomeration.

• dynamic ‘agglomeration’ (exchange of ideas, innovation) – meeting, face-to-face, new ideas, collaboration.

– these are increasingly based on mobility and communications.

– important for creativity and innovation.

- not linked to agglomeration.

http://www.kestonvillagehall.org.uk/

http://www.globaliz.info/port-economy.html


• So where does this leave planners and planning?

– clusters, buzzing neighbourhoods, density etc.... have many environmental and social advantages...

– they have no necessary connection with innovation and growth.

– questions of scale and type of firm: • being in a city can be important for growing firms.

• being in a ‘buzzing’ neighbourhood is of decreasing importance for many (bit not all) firms.


• The connection between geographic clusters and innovation made sense in the 1980s and 1990s:

– when economic activity could be located.

– when it was safe to assume that most people had a ‘place of residence’ and a ‘place of work’.

– when coordination and communication required physical proximity.


In a city like this:

• how can one zone?

• how can one plan for meetings, interactions, face-to-face?

• where is economic production located?

CBD


In a city like this:

• there ARE fixed places:

– nodes: places where people meet (temporarily, not co-location)

– residential areas: place of residence is still fixed.

– not all workers are mobile: fixed places of work (e.g. service work at nodes).

• there ARE transport networks: – economic activity on networks, getting to nodes.

• there IS an urban environment: – roads, parks, buildings, ‘third-spaces’

CBD


In a regional system like this:

• how do smaller towns survive?

• what are the economic development options?



Accessibility, communications and amenities

– all three are necessary.

– workers may live in places where they do not work.

– local firms should interact and collaborate beyond the locality.

– new opportunities : professionals, retirees, attracting workers.

– not all localities will grow: managing decline.


An unfortunate reality:

– some remote or low amenity towns and regions will still struggle.

– structural changes are difficult: they have occured throughout history.

– planners can diagnose and understand this, decline can be managed.


?

?

?

5. What next?

Innovation ≠ local development

dynamic externalities • mobility, communication, meetings, knowledge... • not linked in simple way to space or planning.

static externalities • availability of resources for growth • infrastructure • flexible real-estate • housing • communication • transport (local and outwards) • amenities (for residents)

Catering for mobile workers

5. What next?

Not all workers are hyper-mobile...

– personal services (immobile or semi-mobile)

– office support

– work linked to physical capital (usually immobile)

– work in local governments, health services

... but often complement or support hyper-mobile work.

5. What next?

https://www.thestar.com/life/food_wine/2016/03/05/torontos-electric-layers-compared-to-old-delhi.html

http://www.theasiantoday.com/index.php/2013/12/17/bangladeshis-and-pakistanis-living-in-deprived-neighbourhoods/

• No simple answers.

• Some concepts have become ‘second-nature’ or ‘obvious’.

• Planning seeks practical solutions, but: – beware of ‘common-sense’ concepts and theories,

– beware of ‘one-size-fits-all’

5. What next?

• There is no recipe: planners who know their cities are critically important.

• They need to reconcile mobility and place:

how to do this depends on context.

• Zygmund Bauman speaks of « liquid modernity ». (nothing is fixed, neither in space nor in society)

• Planners need to plan for « liquid localities ».

Articles and chapters that this talk draws upon:

• Shearmur, R., 2018, The Millennial Urban Space-Economy: Dissolving Workplaces and the De-localization of Economic Value-Creation, in Moos,M., D.Pfeiffer and T.Vinodrai (eds) Millennial City, London: Routledge, 65-80

• Pajevic, F. and R.Shearmur, 2017, Catch Me if You Can: Big Data and Workplace Mobility, Journal of Urban Technology , DOI: 10.1080/10630732.2017.1334855

• Shearmur, R. and D.Doloreux, 2016, How open innovation processes vary between urban and remote environments: slow innovators, market-sourced information and frequency of interaction, Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, DOI: 10.1080/08985626.2016.1154984

• Shearmur, R. and D.Doloreux, 2015, KIBS use and innovation: high-order services, geographic hierarchies and internet use in Quebec’s manufacturing sector, Regional Studies, 49.10, 1654-71

• Shearmur, R., 2015, Far from the Madding Crowd: Slow Innovators, Information Value, and the Geography of Innovation, Growth & Change, DOI: 10.1111/grow.12097

• Shearmur, R., 2011, Innovation, Regions and Proximity: From Neo-regionalism to Spatial Analysis, Regional Studies, 45.9, 1225-44

• Shearmur, R. and T.Hutton, 2011, Canada’s Changing City Regions: The Expanding Metropolis, in Bourne, L., T.Hutton, R.Shearmur and J.Simmons (eds), 2011, Canadian Urban Regions: Trajectories of Growth and Change, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 99-124

• Shearmur, R., and D.Doloreux, 2009, Place, Space and Distance: Towards a Geography of Knowledge Intensive Business Services Innovation, Industry and Innovation, 16.1, 79-102

Documents

The future of business establishments and the changing ... · • Shearmur, R. and D.Doloreux, 2016, How open innovation processes vary between urban and remote environments: slow