IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envira/v28y1996i2p327-339.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Regional Development and the Production of Space: The Role of Infrastructure in the Attraction of New Inward Investment

Author

Listed:
  • F W Peck

    (Division of Geography and Environmental Management, Lipman Building, University of Northumbria at Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, England)

Abstract

The continuous renewal and improvement of infrastructure within Europe are widely regarded as a very necessary part of any regional development strategy, particularly in regions which are economically and geographically peripheral to the core industrialised regions. This paper is a review of some of the problems associated with modelling the relationship between improvements in infrastructure and regional economic growth specifically in the context of the attraction of new inward investment. An illustration from northeast England is used to argue that it is increasingly untenable to regard infrastructure as an independent variable influencing the regional distribution of mobile investment. Although the presence of certain basic infrastructure may be significant in attracting the initial interest of potential new investors, success in winning inward investment projects depends increasingly upon the ability of public authorities to produce spaces which are customised to the changing needs of key firms. This process of infrastructure modification and adaptation challenges simplistic interpretations of the role of infrastructure in regional economic development. Examples demonstrate how inward investment projects can be levered into a region by means of a variety of incentives including promises of rapid infrastructure modifications. The experience of Nissan is used to illustrate how an investor can subsequently engage directly in the production of its own customised space through the control exercised over regional authorities. It is concluded that this area of research and policy formation would benefit from insights into the political processes which occur at local levels in the modification and production of space.

Suggested Citation

  • F W Peck, 1996. "Regional Development and the Production of Space: The Role of Infrastructure in the Attraction of New Inward Investment," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 28(2), pages 327-339, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:28:y:1996:i:2:p:327-339
    DOI: 10.1068/a280327
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a280327
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/a280327?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. A Harding, 1991. "The Rise of Urban Growth Coalitions, UK-Style?," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 9(3), pages 295-317, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yingqi Wei & Xiaming Liu & David Parker & Kirit Vaidya, 1999. "The Regional Distribution of Foreign Direct Investment in China," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(9), pages 857-867.
    2. Caroline YEOH & Joses Wong, 2011. "Singapore’s Venture into the Gulf: Undiscovered Treasure or Empty Pot?," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 3(5), pages 317-325.
    3. Kirsi Mukkala & Hannu Tervo, 2012. "Regional airports and regional growth: which way does the causality run?," ERSA conference papers ersa12p642, European Regional Science Association.
    4. Mark Tewdwr-Jones & Nicholas Phelps, 2000. "Levelling the Uneven Playing Field: Inward Investment, Interregional Rivalry and the Planning System," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(5), pages 429-440.
    5. Anders Larsson, 2002. "The development and regional significance of the automotive industry: supplier parks in western Europe," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 767-784, December.
    6. Dunning, John H., 2000. "The eclectic paradigm as an envelope for economic and business theories of MNE activity," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 163-190, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andrew M. Wood, 2004. "Domesticating Urban Theory? US Concepts, British Cities and the Limits of Cross-national Applications," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 41(11), pages 2103-2118, October.
    2. Paul Lawless, 1994. "Partnership in Urban Regeneration in the UK: The Sheffield Central Area Study," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 31(8), pages 1303-1324, October.
    3. Mark Sandford, 2020. "Conceptualising ‘generative power’: Evidence from the city-regions of England," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(10), pages 2098-2114, August.
    4. Robin Boyle, 1993. "Changing Partners: The Experience of Urban Economic Policy in West Central Scotland, 1980-90," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 30(2), pages 309-323, March.
    5. Nicos Souliotis & John Sayas & Thomas Maloutas, 2014. "Megaprojects, Neoliberalization, and State Capacities: Assessing the Medium-Term Impact of the 2004 Olympic Games on Athenian Urban Policies," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 32(4), pages 731-745, August.
    6. G Stoker & K Mossberger, 1994. "Urban Regime Theory in Comparative Perspective," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 12(2), pages 195-212, June.
    7. Andrew Wood & David Valler & Peter North, 1998. "Local business representation and the private sector role in local economic policy in Britain," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 13(1), pages 10-27, May.
    8. Dimitris Ballas & Graham P Clarke, 2001. "Modelling the Local Impacts of National Social Policies: A Spatial Microsimulation Approach," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 19(4), pages 587-606, August.
    9. Ashish Goel & L.S. Ganesh & Arshinder Kaur, 2020. "Benefits Formulation in Construction Projects: An Exploratory Study through a Social Sustainability Perspective," IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review, , vol. 9(2), pages 162-176, July.
    10. N.A. Phelps & N. Parsons, 2003. "Edge Urban Geographies: Notes from the Margins of Europe's Capital Cities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 40(9), pages 1725-1749, August.
    11. Andrew Wood, 1996. "Analysing the Politics of Local Economic Development: Making Sense of Cross-national Convergence," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 33(8), pages 1281-1295, October.
    12. Nicholas A. Phelps & Mark Tewdwr-Jones, 2001. "Globalisation, Regions and the State: Exploring the Limitations of Economic Modernisation through Inward Investment," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 38(8), pages 1253-1272, July.
    13. Azam Safari & Zahra Hosseini, 2016. "The Effect of Workshop Training Method and Electronic Teaching Method on Mathematics Learning," European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies Articles, Revistia Research and Publishing, vol. 1, ejms_v1_i.
    14. Vigar, Geoff & Shaw, Andrew & Swann, Richard, 2011. "Selling sustainable mobility: The reporting of the Manchester Transport Innovation Fund bid in UK media," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 468-479, March.
    15. Philip Catney & John M Henneberry, 2016. "Public entrepreneurship and the politics of regeneration in multi-level governance," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(7), pages 1324-1343, November.
    16. R Imrie & H Thomas, 1993. "The Limits of Property-Led Regeneration," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 11(1), pages 87-102, March.
    17. I Strange, 1997. "Directing the Show? Business Leaders, Local Partnership, and Economic Regeneration in Sheffield," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, March.
    18. Nick Bailey, 1994. "Towards a research agenda for public-private partnership in the 1990s," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 8(4), pages 292-306, February.
    19. Rob Imrie & Huw Thomas & Tim Marshall, 1995. "Business Organisations, Local Dependence and the Politics of Urban Renewal in Britain," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 32(1), pages 31-47, February.
    20. Lee Pugalis & Alan R. Townsend, 2014. "The emergence of ‘new’ spatial coalitions in the pursuit of functional regions of governance," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(1), pages 49-67, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:28:y:1996:i:2:p:327-339. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.