Small industrial towns in Europe: a review State of the art and a presentation of the BRIGHT FUTURE project David Bole Senior research fellow, Research centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts

contents 1. Small industrial towns in Europe: state of the art 2. Project presentation 3. Preliminary resulty 4. Discussion

State-of-the-art Daniell Bell (1972): The comming of the post-industrial society „… life, work, production will be fundamentally changed by new technologies and new innovations…“ Decline of manufacturing, less industrial jobs, more proffesional and skilled jobs that ultimatelly lead to „more highly developed societies“.

State-of-the-art Krugman (1991), Scott (1983), Scott & Storper (1987) „… vertical and horizontal disintegration of production in the World…“ Outsourcing of production; de-industrialisation of the „west“; industrialisation of the „East“ Urban areas: dispersion of big, labor intensive plants; concentration of small, knowledge intensive firms

State-of-the-art The post-fordist city (regulation school, flexible specialisation school, Schumpeterian school …) Jessop, Storper …

State-of-the-art the „cultural“ turn, the „creative“ turn, the „neo-liberal“ turn the post-fordist and post-industrial city: the creative city, the cultural city, the innovative city, the post-industrial city Focus on: bigger and service orientated cities (Sassens „global city“); cultural cities (Scott) and creative cities (Florida)

State-of-the-art: the „invisible“ industrial town post-industrial versus industrial Mellander C., Florida, R., Rentfrow, J. 2012: The Creative Class, Post-industrialism and the Happiness of Nations. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 5: 31–43.

State-of-the-art Last 50 years in urban geographical research: Service-based economy, neo-liberal approaches to creativity, culture Larger cities and networks Urban shrinkage = deindustrialisation Urban planners and urban policies: Culture-led development, „new knowledge cities“ Attractive urban environment for young, innovative, creative people

State-of-the-art: the „return“ of the smaller town? BUT… 29 % of EU small towns still hold their industrial profile (Hamdouch et al. 2017) Re-industrialisation of deindustrialised small and medium-sized cities (Katowice, Poland: Krzysztofik et al. 2016) Success stories: small industrial towns going global (Idrija, Slovenia: Nared, Bole & Urbanc 2013) Are those examples only exceptions to the general rule?

State-of-the-art: the industrial revival? BUT…

Motivation – Slovenia, Poland

Socio-cultural specificities and spatial specificities Project BRIGHT FUTURE Reinventing European industrial towns and challenging dominant post-industrial discourses Industrial towns possess a set of factors that influence their development and distinguishes them from the ‚capitalist‘ city. We presume that those arise from: Socio-cultural specificities and spatial specificities Industrial traditions / history of industrialisation embeddedness regional and national context / spatial characteristics specific knowledge, personal networks, cultural-social practices and traditions, territorial identity, social cohesion, daily routines and lifestyle, … With a combined quantitative and qualitative approach: Some specificities more important then others, perhaps a combination of factors, influlences on the better development perspectives and vibrant societies and economies And perhaps some can be used as social innovations – products, services, institutional improvements that can further improve the quality of life role in regional/national macro dynamics, core/periphery relations, external territorial identity (perceptions), vacant spaces, under-utilised building stock, tangible industrial heritage … Social innovations

Envisioned project results Research: to understand small industrial towns, their dynamics, local narratives, strengths and weaknesses Local communities: to support them with endogenous, territorial based approach to development Policy: to develop alternative views on post-industrial development Conceptual model of the industrial town Comparative analysis of industrial towns Social innovations – methods and implementation Policy recommendations

First preliminary results Quantitative analysis of industry and development (EU-wide, NUTS 2 level) 1/4 of all jobs in EU in industry 1/3 of industrial jobs are in medium-/high tech industry Industry generally negatively correlates with economics and demographics, but: industry and regional shrinkage: weak correlation (-.244, p<.001) medium-/high tech industry and regional shrinkage: no correlation! medium-/high tech industry and unemployment: moderate correlation (-.323, p<.001) Very preliminary: industrial employment lowers overall GDP but positively effects employment Wp2:not just criteria (one-size fits all solutions) but also location and the role (importance) - using soft criteria - specific to the national system (industrial history, centrality, peripherality ...) WP3: narratives (especially of 'regular' people, but also decision makers, managers etc- social relations, socio-economic structure, ideas, interests, practices) that show values and heritage specific to industrial towns WP3: can we trace certain positive practices (socio-cultural) or the ‚forgotten heritage if industrial citis‘ in present day development? WP4: those practices could be used in creating forms of social innovations – enabling disscussion – making future plans, improving the quality of life

First preliminary results Regression modelling (NUTS 2 level, step-wise OLS) industry is negatively associated with population growth, BUT: medium/high tech employment is positively associated with population growth, as is the number of industrial enterprises (1990-2016) or the number of high-growing industrial enterprises (2010-2016). medium/high tech employment highly correlates to bigger GVA NUTS 3 level: Industrial regions more resilient (60 % ind.reg. vs. 40 % non-ind.reg. not affected by crisis) Weak negative correlations between total GVA and share of industry (around -.200) Wp2:not just criteria (one-size fits all solutions) but also location and the role (importance) - using soft criteria - specific to the national system (industrial history, centrality, peripherality ...) WP3: narratives (especially of 'regular' people, but also decision makers, managers etc- social relations, socio-economic structure, ideas, interests, practices) that show values and heritage specific to industrial towns WP3: can we trace certain positive practices (socio-cultural) or the ‚forgotten heritage if industrial citis‘ in present day development? WP4: those practices could be used in creating forms of social innovations – enabling disscussion – making future plans, improving the quality of life

Project partnership Kajaani Corby Herleen Fieni Velenje SI: Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts FI: University of Eastern Finland – Department of Geographical and Historical Studies RO: University of Bucharest – Interdisciplinary Center for Advanced Research on Territorial Dynamics NL: University of Amsterdam – Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR) UK: Social Life Limited; The Young Foundation Kajaani Corby Herleen Fieni Velenje

Questions & Answers david.bole@zrc-sazu.si project updates: ReserchGate https://www.researchgate.net/project/BRIGHT-FUTURE-Bright-future-for-black-towns- reinventing-European-industrial-towns-and-challenging-dominant-post-industrial-discourses possible cooperation: workshops at conferences; project twinning; sharing experiences david.bole@zrc-sazu.si