TITLE:
Exploring the Links between Employment Clusters and Economic Diversity in the British Urban System
AUTHORS:
Daniel O’Donoghue
KEYWORDS:
Clusters, Concentration, Diversity, Specialisation, British Urban System
JOURNAL NAME:
Modern Economy,
Vol.7 No.7,
July
14,
2016
ABSTRACT: A
growing body of literature, built up over the years, has explored the cluster
concept. In parallel, another body of literature has accumulated regarding the
diversity and specialisation of cities. There has been little explicit linkage
between these two bodies of literature. This study sets out to explore the
potential link between these two representations of spatial patterns so that a
better understanding of the relationship between the two might be established.
The UK Annual Business Inquiry 2007 provides the employment data drawn from
various aggregated levels of the SIC 2003 for 70 TTWAs that represent the
British Urban System. The paper investigates the extent of spatial
concentration of individual sectors, and provides an example of how clusters
might be identified spatially. Further analysis, using data drawn from the SIC
1, 2 and 3 digit levels indicates the relationship levels
diversity/specialisation have with the clustering of activities, particularly
when various sub-sectors are examined. Specific locations, or groups of cities
are identified, which reinforce previous understandings of some of the key
concepts. The results indicate further analysis of the role of localisation and
urbanisation economies and their relationship with diversity/specialisation is required with an added emphasis on
occupational, rather than just industrial diversity.