From Industrial Districts to Local Development introduces a set of papers representing the main contribution of the 'Florence school' to the recent literature on industrial districts. The authors illustrate that the revitalisation of the concept of industrial districts, returning to Alfred Marshall's nineteenth-century writings, is rooted in an unconventional interpretation of the economic development of Tuscany after the Second World War.Models of industrial organisation and empirical investigation of industrial tendencies are featured, and Alfred Marshall's concepts of the advantages of the geographical agglomeration of specialised small firms in industrial districts are reintroduced. The authors extend the analysis of purely economic effects of agglomeration, including social, cultural and institutional foundations of local development, and current case studies are presented. This book will appeal to scholars, lecturers and researchers focusing on industrial economics, development economics and economic geography. Its references to Italian political experiences will also be of interest to policymakers in both developed and developing countries.

This title was first published in 2003. Development is a complex and heterogeneous phenomenon, driven by the expansion of one or more sectors and their influence on the others. It is the outcome of local interdependencies among firms, households and institutions which give rise to specific territorial patterns of local systems. Policies of development cannot therefore restrict themselves to undifferentiated intervention from the centre to the periphery, but must be able to stimulate and sustain endogenous bottom-up growth by means of specific programmes. Thus, individuals and organizations, public or private interact, take decisions and devise strategies in a context that is simultaneously co-operative and competitive. The first in a series, this volume brings together a team of leading international social scientists from the IGU study group on local development. Illustrated by a wide range of global case studies, it analyses what knowledge is required for industrial production and how best to organize this knowledge, embedded as it is in physical, human and social capital. It focuses on the formation of social capital and the various forms into which this may evolve, in particular, the sets of institutions which regulate relationships within and among firms. It provides an understanding of how such institutions encourage co-operation in conditions of uncertainty, overcoming suspicion and caution, managing participation and ensuring compliance with agreements by applying sanctions.

First published in 1999, this volume situates the Italian urban system within a European context, examining the best approach to integration. Connections between urban development, territorial cohesion and the European urban system have been clearly identified by Europe 2000 (1991) and identified as primary instruments for achieving social and economic cohesion and competitiveness as per the Treaty of Maastricht and the White Paper, Growth, Competitiveness, Employment (1993). This book aids this endeavour through featuring contributions on cities as nodes of transport networks, economic change, the demographic transition, the local milieu, regional cohesion and global networks and how the system can integrate into European urban networks.

This title was first published in 2003. Development is a complex and heterogeneous phenomenon, driven by the expansion of one or more sectors and their influence on the others. It is the outcome of local interdependencies among firms, households and institutions which give rise to specific territorial patterns of local systems. Policies of development cannot therefore restrict themselves to undifferentiated intervention from the centre to the periphery, but must be able to stimulate and sustain endogenous bottom-up growth by means of specific programmes. Thus, individuals and organizations, public or private interact, take decisions and devise strategies in a context that is simultaneously co-operative and competitive. The first in a series, this volume brings together a team of leading international social scientists from the IGU study group on local development. Illustrated by a wide range of global case studies, it analyses what knowledge is required for industrial production and how best to organize this knowledge, embedded as it is in physical, human and social capital. It focuses on the formation of social capital and the various forms into which this may evolve, in particular, the sets of institutions which regulate relationships within and among firms.