Allen J. Scott

'This book, although relatively short, is a tour de force. The book is elegantly written, offering a persuasive narrative in which the arguments and the prose flow smoothly from one theme to another. The reader is pulled along various lines of argument running parallel, but ultimately these are brought back together in a concluding synthesis. This is a superb book. I know of no other recent volume with a similar broad scope, internal cohesion, and argumentative rigour, as well as persuasive writing style. I strongly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in global economic transformations and the expanded role of global city regions.'- Larry S. Bourne, Canadian Studies in PopulationThis innovative volume offers an in-depth analysis of the many ways in which new forms of capitalism in the 21st century are affecting and altering the processes of urbanization.Beginning with the recent history of capitalism and urbanization and moving into a thorough and complex discussion of the modern city, this book outlines the dynamics of what the author calls the third wave of urbanization, characterized by global capitalism s increasing turn to forms of production revolving around technology-intensive artifacts, financial services, and creative commodities such as film, music, and fashion. The author explores how this shift toward a cognitive and cultural economy has caused dramatic changes in the modern economic landscape in general and in the form and function of world cities in particular. Armed with cutting-edge research and decades of expertise, Allen J. Scott breaks new ground in identifying and explaining how the cities of the past are being reshaped into a complex system of global economic spaces marked by intense relationships of competition and cooperation.Professors and students in areas such as geography, urban planning, sociology, and economics will find much to admire in this pioneering volume, as will journalists, policy-makers, and other professionals with an interest in urban studies.

'This book, although relatively short, is a tour de force. The book is elegantly written, offering a persuasive narrative in which the arguments and the prose flow smoothly from one theme to another. The reader is pulled along various lines of argument running parallel, but ultimately these are brought back together in a concluding synthesis. This is a superb book. I know of no other recent volume with a similar broad scope, internal cohesion, and argumentative rigour, as well as persuasive writing style. I strongly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in global economic transformations and the expanded role of global city regions.'- Larry S. Bourne, Canadian Studies in PopulationThis innovative volume offers an in-depth analysis of the many ways in which new forms of capitalism in the 21st century are affecting and altering the processes of urbanization.Beginning with the recent history of capitalism and urbanization and moving into a thorough and complex discussion of the modern city, this book outlines the dynamics of what the author calls the third wave of urbanization, characterized by global capitalism s increasing turn to forms of production revolving around technology-intensive artifacts, financial services, and creative commodities such as film, music, and fashion. The author explores how this shift toward a cognitive and cultural economy has caused dramatic changes in the modern economic landscape in general and in the form and function of world cities in particular. Armed with cutting-edge research and decades of expertise, Allen J. Scott breaks new ground in identifying and explaining how the cities of the past are being reshaped into a complex system of global economic spaces marked by intense relationships of competition and cooperation.Professors and students in areas such as geography, urban planning, sociology, and economics will find much to admire in this pioneering volume, as will journalists, policy-makers, and other professionals with an interest in urban studies.

Here is an extensive and highly original inquiry into the origins, dynamics, and internal order of the modern metropolis. Allen J. Scott demonstrates how the metropolis emerges out of the basic mechanisms of production and work in contemporary society, and how those mechanisms guide general patterns of urban development. His work will be stimulating to social scientists and to planners and policy makers as well. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1988.

Here is an extensive and highly original inquiry into the origins, dynamics, and internal order of the modern metropolis. Allen J. Scott demonstrates how the metropolis emerges out of the basic mechanisms of production and work in contemporary society, and how those mechanisms guide general patterns of urban development. His work will be stimulating to social scientists and to planners and policy makers as well. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1988.

This book presents an exploratory account of the origins and dynamics of cities. The author recounts how the essential foundations of the urbanization process reside in two interrelated forces. These are the tendency for many different kinds of human activity to gather together to form functional complexes on the landscape, and the multifaceted intra-urban space-sorting crosscurrents set in motion by this primary urge. From these basic points of departure, the city in all its fullness emerges as a reflexive moment in social and economic development. The argument of the book is pursued both in theoretical and in empirical terms, devoting attention to the changing character of urbanization in the capitalist era. A point of particular emphasis concerns the peculiar patterns of resurgent urbanization that are making their historical and geographical appearance in the currently emerging phase of cognitive-cultural capitalism and that are now rapidly diffusing across the globe.

This book presents an incisive outline of the historical development and geography of cities. It focuses on three themes that constitute essential foundations for any understanding of urban form and function. These are: (a) the shifting patterns of urbanization through historical time, (b) the role of cities as centers of production and work in a globalizing world, and (c) the diverse housing and shelter needs of urban populations. The book also explores a number of critical urban problems and the political challenges that they pose. Empirical evidence from urban situations on all five continents is brought into play throughout the discussion.

Why is the U.S. motion picture industry concentrated in Hollywood and why does it remain there in the age of globalization? Allen Scott uses the tools of economic geography to explore these questions and to provide a number of highly original answers. The conceptual roots of his analysis go back to Alfred Marshall's theory of industrial districts and pick up on modern ideas about business clusters as sites of efficient and innovative production. On Hollywood builds on this work by adding major new empirical elements. By examining the history of motion-picture production from the early twentieth century to the present through this analytic lens, Scott is able to show why the industry (which was initially focused on New York) had shifted the majority of its production to Southern California by 1919. He also addresses in detail the bases of Hollywood's long-standing creative energies and competitive advantages. At the same time, the book explores the steady globalization of Hollywood's market reach as well as the cultural and political dilemmas posed by this phenomenon. On Hollywood will appeal not only to general readers with an interest in the motion-picture industry, but also to economic geographers, business professionals, regional development practitioners, and cultural theorists as well.

Since the Second World War there has been considerable growth in the importance of non-manufacturing based forms of production to the performance of many Western economies. Many countries have seen increased contributions being made by industries such as the media, entertainment and artistic sectors. Gathering together a leading international, multi disciplinary team of researchers, this informative book presents cutting-edge perspectives on how these industries function, their place in the new economy and how they can be harnessed for urban and regional economic and social development.

This book is about the renaissance of cities in the twenty first century and their increasing role as centers of creative economic activity. It attempts to put some conceptual and descriptive order around issues of urbanization in the contemporary world, emphasizing the idea of the social economy of the metropolis, which is to say, a view of the urban organism as an intertwined system of social and economic life played out through the arena of urban space. The book opens with a review of some essentials of urban theory, the book aims to re-articulate the urban question in a way that is relevant to city life and politics in the present era. It then analyses the functional characteristics of the urban economy, with special reference to the rise of a group of core sectors such as media, fashion, music, etc., focused on cognitive and cultural forms of work. These sectors are growing with great rapidity in the world's largest cities at the present time, and they play a major role in the urban resurgence that has been occurring of late. The discussion then explores the spatial ramifications of this new economy in cities and the ways in which it appears to be ushering in major shifts in divisions of labor and urban social stratification, as marked by a growing divide between a stratum of elite workers on the one side and a low-wage proletariat on the other. Allen Scott is one of the world's foremost thinkers on the economies of modern cities, and in this book presents a concise introduction to his innovative and insightful perspective.

This book focuses on the theme of the mutually constitutive relations between geographic space and the economic order. Three principle lines of investigation are identified and explored. First, Allen J. Scott sketches out the general theory of the division of labour and the ways in which it is reflected in geographic patterns of specialization and interaction. He examines, in particular, the role of the division of labour in the formation of large-scale agglomerations of economic activity and the ways in which their internal and external relationships are played out. Second, he considers the structure of geographic space as a fountainhead of creativity, learning, and innovation. A theory of the creative field is presented, and its application to the investigation of entrepreneurship, technological change, and the dynamics of the cultural economy is considered. Third, he offers an account of the regional question in less developed parts of the world. Here, he recovers some of the arguments of high development theory and shows how they can be revitalized in the light of a specifically geographic approach. These three lines of investigation are, of course, tightly intertwined with one another. The argument in general demonstrates that geographic space is not just an inert dimension in which the economy unfolds, but plays an active role in the eventuation of economic outcomes. This state of affairs raises many difficult policy questions about growth and development in both more and less economically advanced countries. Some of the more important of these questions are also broached in the book.

Since the Second World War there has been considerable growth in the importance of non-manufacturing based forms of production to the performance of many Western economies. Many countries have seen increased contributions being made by industries such as the media, entertainment and artistic sectors. Gathering together a leading international, multi disciplinary team of researchers, this informative book presents cutting-edge perspectives on how these industries function, their place in the new economy and how they can be harnessed for urban and regional economic and social development.

Culture is big business. It is at the root of many urban regeneration schemes throughout the world, yet the economy of culture is under-theorized and under-developed. In this wide-ranging and penetrating volume, the economic logic and structure of the modern cultural industries is explained. The connection between cultural production and urban-industrial concentration is demonstrated and the book shows why global cities are the homelands of the modern cultural industries. This book covers many sectors of cultural economy, from craft industries such as clothing and furniture, to modern media industries such as cinema and music recording. The role of the global city as a source of creative and innovative energy is examined in detail, with particular attention paid to Paris and Los Angeles.

Culture is big business. It is at the root of many urban regeneration schemes throughout the world, yet the economy of culture is under-theorized and under-developed. In this wide-ranging and penetrating volume, the economic logic and structure of the modern cultural industries is explained. The connection between cultural production and urban-industrial concentration is demonstrated and the book shows why global cities are the homelands of the modern cultural industries. This book covers many sectors of cultural economy, from craft industries such as clothing and furniture, to modern media industries such as cinema and music recording. The role of the global city as a source of creative and innovative energy is examined in detail, with particular attention paid to Paris and Los Angeles.

One of the dramatic shifts that is occurring in the world system as we enter the twenty-first century is the increasing openness and interpenetration of national economies and sovereign states. This shift is associated on the one hand with the beginnings of a progressive transfer of certain economic and political functions upward to the plurinational and global levels; and on the other hand with a countervailing trend to the reinforcement of economic and political life at the subnational, regional level. This book is a wide-ranging exploration of the economic logic and political meaning of these developments, with special reference to a reconceptualization of the economic geography of the modern world as an emerging global mosaic of regional systems of production and exchange. The steady globalization of economic activity over the last few decades has intensified the re-assertion of the region as a critical locus of economic order and as a potent foundation of competitive advantage. As a corollary, many regions in the modern world are also beginning to acquire an intense self-consciousness of themselves as socio-political and economic entities, and all the more so as they increasingly find themselves bound together in both competitive and collaborative relationships across national borders. The significance of these tendencies for new kinds of political mobilization is explored, and their potential impacts of substantive forms of democracy and citizenship in the new world order are assessed.

One of the dramatic shifts that is occurring in the world system as we enter the twenty-first century is the increasing openness and interpenetration of national economies and sovereign states. This shift is associated on the one hand with the beginnings of a progressive transfer of certain economic and political functions upward to the plurinational and global levels; and on the other hand with a countervailing trend to the reinforcement of economic and political life at the subnational, regional level. This book is a wide-ranging exploration of the economic logic and political meaning of these developments, with special reference to a reconceptualization of the economic geography of the modern world as an emerging global mosaic of regional systems of production and exchange. The steady globalization of economic activity over the last few decades has intensified the re-assertion of the region as a critical locus of economic order and as a potent foundation of competitive advantage. As a corollary, many regions in the modern world are also beginning to acquire an intense self-consciousness of themselves as socio-political and economic entities, and all the more so as they increasingly find themselves bound together in both competitive and collaborative relationships across national borders. The significance of these tendencies for new kinds of political mobilization is explored, and their potential impacts of substantive forms of democracy and citizenship in the new world order are assessed.