Ordinary cities, extraordinary geographies: parallax dimensions, interpolations and the scale question

Bryson, John R.; Kalafsky, Ronald V.; Vanchan, Vida

doi:10.4337/9781789908022.00009

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…This stands in contrast to decades of focus on the upper tier of the urban hierarchy, including the role of global command-and-control centers (e.g., Sassen, 2001). What is perhaps most interesting about these smaller, “ordinary” cities, is how extraordinary they are in numerous ways (Bryson et al, 2021a). On balance, these cities have marked heterogeneity in terms of trajectories, industries, histories, and a number of other attributes (Dijkstra et al, 2013).…”

Section: Ordinary Cities Exports and A Globalizing Southern Usmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The enhanced focus on smaller cities and urban regions is due to a number of factors, with two of the most critical being the need to foster inclusive economic development at all levels of the urban hierarchy and that smaller cities starkly outnumber larger urban places. This comparative lack of attention has created a gap in the understanding of economic processes at the bottom of the urban hierarchy despite their critical, and often extraordinary, economic roles (see Bryson et al, 2021a). This gap is particularly significant as it limits the ability to analyze the effectiveness of place-based economic development policies in the locations where they often have the greatest impact (Palavicini Corona, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Global connections from the second-tier: The trade performance of smaller southern US cities

Kalafsky,

Graves

2023

Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit

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After years of relative neglect, renewed attention has been paid to smaller, “ordinary” cities. The distinctiveness of these cities is often found in their economic development paths, which, can encompass their roles in international trade. Many locations have included exports as part of their economic growth strategies, yet the effectiveness of export strategies varies by location. This is in addition to varying components of exports for these cities, including the destination geographies and reliance on particular markets. In order to contribute to the growing literature on ordinary cities, this paper examines the export performance of smaller metropolitan areas across the southern United States. In recent decades, the South has been a region marked by robust economic performance, both overall and in terms of exporting; the region’s smaller cities are an especially notable case in terms of export performance and structure. While goods-related exports from the smaller cities across this region have tended to trend upward, export performance has been spatially uneven, with export markets and key export industries varying widely. The article concludes with an exploration and discussion of possible export trajectories for these urban areas in the post-pandemic and potentially, post-globalization, environments, particularly in terms of development-related outcomes.

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Section: Ordinary Cities Exports and A Globalizing Southern Usmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global connections from the second-tier: The trade performance of smaller southern US cities

Kalafsky,

Graves

2023

Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit

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“…Where decoupling has significant potential is in the analysis and explanation of contemporary regional dynamics, and within this electoral shifts in the UK, particularly around the more peripheral ‘places that don’t matter’ (Rodríguez-Pose, 2018) or ‘ordinary cities’ (Bryson et al, 2021) and their political relevance considering the UK’s ‘levelling up’ agenda (Jennings et al, 2021). One aspect of the presumed disenfranchisement of such places has been their more traditional economic structure, particularly dependence on production industries (Fothergill and Houston, 2016; Hamdouch et al, 2017).…”

Section: Regional Economic Governance Decoupling and Assemblagementioning

confidence: 99%

The decoupling effect and shifting assemblages of English regionalism: Economic governance, politics and firm-state relations

Salder,

Bryson,

Clark

2023

Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space

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The regional scale continues to be considered critical to UK economic governance. Successive iterations have however seen limited impact in addressing enduring issues of uneven development despite significant reform. This paper argues for a reconceptualization of the region and regional geographies through application of an assemblage reading. Building on existing work in economic geography, it argues regional economic governance should be considered as an assemblage process involving overlaying territorialisations of place, policy, and stakeholders, and related dynamic capacities involving the multiplicity of components and interactions, legacies of prior arrangements, and agency of actors. Regional governance therefore occurs through a process of continual becoming. Similarly important here however is decoupling. Decoupling has significant spatial and sectoral implications as changed arrangements shift the dynamics integrating actors and groups of actors locally and regionally. Using analysis from Southern Staffordshire, part of the Greater Birmingham city-region, the article argues the shifting nature of regional assemblages and distinct forms of territorialisation are material in decoupling key local sectors from local economy and place. We conclude the application of an assemblage reading, and its enhancement through application of decoupling, has scope to illustrate key causes of uneven development within regions.

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“…While the focus of current debates has been shifting beyond large cities and western domains (Bell and Jayne, 2006;Brenner and Schmid, 2014;Bryson et al 2021;Hamdouch et al, 2017), there is a need and scope for a more nuanced understanding of development processes in smaller, peripheral, and disadvantaged places (Carter, 2016;Servillo et al, 2017). The complex dynamic of urban development "under the conditions of deindustrialisation and (sometimes) subsequent regeneration" (Bell and Jayne, 2009, p. 693) deserves more research attention, especially about understanding the role of non-economic factors, such as local identity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Industrial forever? Narratives, place identity, and the development path of the city of Zeitz, Germany

Görmar

Kinossian

2022

Moravian Geographical Reports

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There is a growing interest in understanding development processes and opportunities in small and medium-sized towns that so far did not attract much attention in mainstream urban theory. Conventional growth-oriented approaches fail to capture the complexity of local development and policy-making processes because they prioritise production factors and underrate the role of discourse and place-based identity. This paper aims to explore the linkages between narratives, place identity, and local development. As local actors try to make sense of a place’s past and future, they select, contribute to, and mobilise various local narratives. Multiple narratives feed into and are part of a place’s identity that defines a frame for possible development options. The paper uses the case of Zeitz in Saxony-Anhalt (Germany) to analyse the evolution of local development narratives from the 1970s until today. The paper concludes that: i) narrative-making is not a linear process; narratives, spatial imaginaries and local identity are complex, dynamic, and interconnected with each other; ii) local narratives help to construct a coherent imaginary of a place and are mutually intertwined with local development and policies; and iii) local narratives are interdependent with external events and strategies requiring a multiscalar relational perspective on local development processes.

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Ordinary cities, extraordinary geographies: parallax dimensions, interpolations and the scale question

Cited by 4 publications

References 12 publications

Global connections from the second-tier: The trade performance of smaller southern US cities

Global connections from the second-tier: The trade performance of smaller southern US cities

The decoupling effect and shifting assemblages of English regionalism: Economic governance, politics and firm-state relations

Industrial forever? Narratives, place identity, and the development path of the city of Zeitz, Germany

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