Managing infrastructural and service demands in new economic spaces: the new territorial politics of collective provision

Abstract

Research on the geography of urban and regional economic development in the U.S.A. and Europe often emphasizes the contribution of supply-side entrepreneurial local policies to the development and competitiveness of new economic spaces (NES) in and around city-regions. Such policies include public-private partnerships and new forms of regional governance. As hitherto successful NES mature, a newer set of struggles has emerged in particular cities and regions having important clusters of new economic activities. These involve new demands for collective provision of infrastructure, workforce housing and services. Using evidence from Greater Boston in the U.S. and the Cambridge city-region in the U.K., the paper proposes a set of concepts with which to investigate the new territorial politics of collective provision. This politics is an increasingly significant yet under-theorised aspect of the social regulation and competitiveness of NES.