DELOS/LOC - Presentations

Abstract

Fashion design has been treated as a key element of the emerging paradigm of the creative economy, and as one of the most significant of the cultural and creative industries (CCIs). As a result, local governments and academics have growingly focused on the idea of the ‘fashion city’ and on the role of fashion as a strategic means for economic development, growth and regeneration of cities. Moreover, the globalization of fashion industry, together with the growing significance of a ‘symbolic economy’ for fashion, have led to a complex geography of fashion centres in the world, including the so-called ‘world cities’ of fashion, but also alternative or ‘second-tier’ centres of fashion culture. The aim of the present research is to address the multifaceted nature of urban fashion through the definition of different ideal types of fashion cities, as well as to explore how the phenomenon is likely to change in the future, particularly in terms of its impact on local economic development. Following the ‘Weberian model’ as a methodological tool to unpick the nature of the ‘fashion city’, we identified two ideal types: the ‘manufacturing fashion city’ and the ‘symbolic fashion city.’ The paper draws upon a broad analysis of the city of London as a key element to define the ‘symbolic’ ideal type of fashion city. We collected primary data through the execution of semi-structured interviews with key public and private actors from a range of different sectors of the London fashion economy, and secondary data from UK official sources, to research into indicators for fashion manufacture and employment in the city, as well as data for fashion education. Preliminary results underline that the city of London sets out a ‘symbolic’ model of fashion city, which is based on the creation of ideas, draws upon place-specific symbolic and cultural heritage and is strongly associated to forms of fashion education. 

Keywords: Fashion City, Ideal Types, London, Symbolic Urbanism, Fashion Education.

Abstract
The context of the research is the so called “fourth industrial revolution”, based on the integration of the ‘Internet of Things and Services’ into the manufacturing environment; the progressive convergence of the physical world into the virtual world, or cyberspace, is changing deeply the way manufacturing processes are conceived, thanks to Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) which make it possible for businesses to develop global networks integrating machineries, warehousing systems and production facilities. In the understanding of the transition to new technological paradigms, there are some questions that are still open matters and require further theoretical and empirical investigation: how to prevent lock-in effects; how to favor long-term coordination processes between different actors at different levels; how to rethink strategies for socio-technical transitions in order to assure sustainable growth. In this respect, Public and Private Partnerships (PPPs), based on the strategic cooperation between the public and private sector are increasingly recognized as an effective vehicle of governance in innovation policy able to drive structural transformation and growth. In this context, the objective of the research is to understand how the Italian country is facing the challenge of the shift towards a new technological paradigm based on “advanced manufacturing” and how can Public and Private Partnerships (PPP) represent an effective strategic vehicle of governance capable to accelerate the digitalization process of the enterprises. In order to answer to the research question, both a qualitative and a quantitative analysis will be provided. The qualitative analysis investigates the role of PPP as an effective instrument of governance for innovation policy able to deal with systemic failures at a regional level, taking into account the comparison between three Italian regions. The quantitative analysis will analyse the impact of cooperation between firms and public research institutes on firms’ product and process innovations, using Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data of the Italian country for the period 2012-2016.  A qualitative and a quantitative analysis shedding light on the relationship between PPP and the innovation performance of firms may represent a useful contribution in the context of the current debate around effective innovation policies in socio-technical transitions.

Abstract

The research analyzes the transformations in the knowledge system of older industrial districts following their openness to global networks of productive relations. We assume that the delocalization of productive activities, including the most standardized ones, has impoverished the knowledge base of the district and reduced the availability of specialized skills and competencies, thus breaking up the processes of learning-by-doing and incremental knowledge accumulation. As the knowledge spillovers across different but related specialized practices represent the engine of collective processes of creativity and innovation, we hypothesize a detrimental effect of productive delocalization on the innovative processes of the district. To observe these dynamics, we estimate the impact of productive delocalization on the capacity of Italian district firms to introduce product and process innovations using data collected in the MET survey on Italian manufacturing companies from 2008 to 2013. We expect to find evidence of the characteristics of the firms participating into global productive relations, of the changes in the composition of Italian industrial districts, of the implications for the innovative potential of the district generated by local firms’ strategies to move production abroad. 

Abstract

Rapid specialization changes and human capital development impact the urban shape on the growing and declining trends of Cities in high income Countries. This research is focused on the specific responses in terms of shapes modification of selected urban areas to the emergence of new job classes percolating City microgeographic levels and inter City relations. The preliminary review of urban economics literature identified a research gap in spatial effects on neighbourhoods impacted by production specialization and innovative jobs. Rapid changes in international production specialization derive from innovation, globalization processes and international trade, thus creating a new scenario of local-global challenges and institutional interactions. The concurrency of these factors affects human capital in urban environments and the role of Cities. Solid literature streams confirm that concentration and agglomeration of skilled workers are instrumental to foster creation, implementation, development and accumulation of knowledge across workers as well as geographic spaces, defining human capital externalities and labour market agglomeration economies are benefits enhancing productivity in defined areas. The creation of new jobs and innovative post manufacturing sectors in high income Countries, such as high-tech and bio-tech industry in the urban areas of Boston and San Jose in US, boosts the definition of new spaces and structures for interactions responding to new geographical proximities. Following the identification of the theoretical framework and investigation of rapid changes in specialization and human capital impacts, the project proceeds with the empirical quantitative analysis of urban areas datasets for differences in wage distributions, occupation and education. 

Abstract

How do institutions change? And why do they otherwise persist and resist to change? Scholars in institutional economics have a hard time to grasp both the persistent and changing nature of institutions with the same theoretical model, especially since there has been little contamination among the theoretical models in this field. In this work, I aim at a reconciliation between the two most notorious schools in institutional economics by proposing feedback loops as a bridging concept allowing for an enhanced comprehension of both institutions' persistence and change. Indeed, after a brief review of the most relevant literature on the topic, I shall outline the theoretical framework to interpret institutional change. Finally, I shall propose an empirical investigation on environmental associations to test the efficacy and the interpretive capacity of the theoretical model. Possible further developments of this work are then offered for a subsequent investigation.

Abstract
Over the last years much attention has been paid to analyzing the evolution over time of clusters basing on the ideas of life cycle and adaptive cycle models. Particularly, it is increasingly theorized and empirically tested how relations among involved actors and between them and the environment affect structures, performances and sustainability of such systems over time. Typically, scholars investigated the changing patterns of formal networks within clusters. This research project aims to contribute to this line of research widening the investigation to informal networks evolution. Moreover, it is also increasing the amount of contributions on wine industry, as an interesting case for the study of changes in production processes, innovation and sustainability; but, this sector is still missing a deep and all-inclusive study from a local development perspective. This research project aims to contribute to this line of research from an original cultural-based perspective. For those objectives, it is proposed an empirical study of the heterogeneous formal and informal networks within the wine industry with a comparative and evolutionary investigation relying on social network analysis tools.
This study aims to contribute to the debate on cluster evolution from a network perspective with an original cultural-based approach; and, more generally, to the investigation of the new local development trajectories in a World that presents global effects of local phenomena and local opportunities of global actions.