Architecture Commons^™

One of the great challenges facing large, diverse metropolitan economies is how to build and maintain sustainable and resilient cities. For several years now, people have recognized the critical and expanding role of “global cities.” Although Saskia Sassen’s initial conceptualization focused on leading financial centers---London, New York, and Tokyo---the notion has developed to encompass broader ideas about how diverse metropolitan economies serve as regional nodes in a global network (Sassen 2001) . These global cities serve as the engines behind national and regional economic growth. Increasingly, academics and policy advocates have argued that global cities constitute the most important interconnected …

Working Regions focuses on policy aimed at building sustainable and resilient regional economies in the wake of the global recession. Using examples of four ‘working regions’ — regions where research and design functions and manufacturing still coexist in the same cities — the book argues for a new approach to regional economic development. It does this by highlighting policies that foster innovation and manufacturing in small firms, focus research centers on pushing innovation down the supply chain, and support dynamic, design-driven firm networks. This book traces several key themes underlying the core proposition that for a region to work, it …