Architecture Commons^™

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 …

Since the early 1980s, the region has been central to thinking about the emerging character of the global economy. In fields as diverse as business management, industrial relations, economic geography, sociology, and planning, the regional scale has emerged as an organizing concept for interpretations of economic change. This book is both a critique of the "new regionalism" and a return to the "regional question," including all of its concerns with equity and uneven development. It will challenge researchers and students to consider the region as a central scale of action in the global economy, and at the core of the …

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The optics, imaging, and photonics industry in Rochester demonstrates strong potential to develop as an engine of economic expansion in the region. The industry, with its international markets and multiple applications, can provide the region with cutting edge technology and help to regrow a strong manufacturing sector. This report and action plan focus on the small and medium size firms (SMEs) in the industry and on how this “cluster” can fulfill its promise and realize its full capacity. There is no shortage of talent in the photonics workforce or in Rochester firms and institutions engaged in new optics …