Silke Zöllner (p), Stefan Lüthi , Alain Thierstein

Matthew Zenkteler

Knowledge generation and dissemination becomes more and more important in key sectors of the economy. Production and services based on knowledge-intensive activities shape the current economy which is characterized by an accelerated pace of technological and scientific advance. Especially advanced producer services (APS) are interesting to study because they show a highly volatile location choice behavior. APS firms establish subsidiaries abroad, coordinate production across countries and relocate their business activities according to new key account customers, changing demand, cost or qualified labour.

These spatial arrangements of firms’ locations have changed enormously during the last decades due to the underlying changes in the functional logic of knowledge creation. We analyze these spatio-temporal changes in the German knowledge economy space. Germany is an interesting case to study since it is Europe’s biggest economy in global terms and it shows a polycentric, federal urban structure. Our research takes a bottom-up approach and analyses the intra-firm networks of the biggest APS firms in Germany measured by employment.

Previous research about the German space economy of APS firms applies a cross-sectional approach and analyses the connectivity of cities through locations of APS firms. We want to add to this research in three ways. First, we conduct a longitudinal study from 2009 to 2018 arguing that network dynamics over time yield more information about spatial behavior than a static approach. Second, we take into account the firms’ perspectives by working directly with the original data structure of a two-mode network, meaning we have two sets of nodes: firms and cities. Third, we apply stochastic actor-oriented models to our network data. These models allow us to estimate and test network dynamics. We assume that preferential attachment will be significant positive based on the structural changes in the knowledge economy: Over time, APS firms will concentrate in cities where many firms are already present in order to facilitate knowledge generation and dissemination through spatial proximity.

Teresa Rojo (p), Antonio Piñero-Valverde

Matthew Zenkteler

What the urban planners designed or the activities regulated by the public administrations in the cities, had historically to become adjusted to the changes in the systems of social relations. For example, the cities of Welfare State Societies were designed separating the uses of work, leisure, education and housing (urban sprawl or zoning), planning large road networks and parking to facilitate travel in private cars.
The objective of this study is to investigate urban planning guidelines adapted to the social organization of activities and uses of the territory in so-called information, knowledge, digital and / or ecological societies already observable in countries such as Spain. The methodology used is exploratory and focuses on the case study of the city of Seville. A descriptive analysis of changes in commercial behaviour, transport and displacement, sporting uses, etc. is carried out. Other applied research techniques implemented are bibliographic and statistical analysis as well as Delphi questionnaire. In the discussion of results, the potential provided by digital technologies and innovations in collaborative economy are weighed.
Among the results, the citizen's preference for a compact city model with proximity uses in the neighbourhood (commerce, sports, education, leisure) and time savings in motorized travels stands out. The extensive digitalization of work and leisure has reduced the time of physical social relationship. As citizens want to enjoy relationships "village style" in their spare time. The return to the local neighbourhood of leisure activities, trade, education and sports, is also a citizen response to the ecological decisions of city councils to increase the prices of motorized transport parking and promote walking, cycling or scooter

Regarding commercial spaces, in the digital society it can be seen that the large classic shopping centre designed as a large building with stores inside it has been losing interest. While the taste for the street and for moving away from closed spaces (in a way of life dominated by activities with screens and virtual contacts) explains the good reception of the shopping centres designed to reproduce pedestrian streets of traditional urban centres.
The conclusions also include the tendency to increase the robotic automation of services such as laundries or the urban rental of motorcycles or electric cars, and the potential demand of so many other services likely to be known and contracted by virtual means and to be organized by collaborative economy.

Silke Zöllner, Stefan Lüthi (p), Michael Bentlage, Alain Thierstein

Matthew Zenkteler

Knowledge has become the main source of creating value in advanced economies, so goes a widespread agreement in academic literature. Based on the requirements for knowledge creation, firms in the knowledge economy usually develop their location network as part of their overall business strategy. The result is a multi-faceted location network on different spatial scales that significantly affects – and in turn is shaped by – the knowledge economy. The interplay of localized factors – like qualified workforce – and non-localized variables determine the position of firms within wider networks of value creation. Comparing firm networks and their locations twenty years ago and now, strategic changes are apparent. The Dotcom crisis, the financial crisis and the exploding digital transformation intuitively make clear the following: (1) The subject of analysis – networks of knowledge-intensive firms – changes its nature and character over time, due to strategic reorientation and routinely adaption of their spatialised value chains. (2) The methodology for to track and analyse inter-temporal changes of interlocking firm networks and localised value chains has to reconsidered beyond standard panel data or time-series considerations. New forms of knowledge creation generate new forms of the spatial organisation of knowledge processes. Information and telecommunication technologies do not substitute for geographical proximity. We witness a complementary relationship for the generation of firm-based knowledge: critical core processes focus on face-to-face interaction, while digital technologies support the standard activities of knowledge creation. The research question is: what role does spatial and relational proximity play against the backdrop of significant changes in creating knowledge and organising localised value chains? In the scientific literature, there are various methodological approaches to investigate these changes from a relational perspective. There are qualitative approaches, which look at the changes from the micro perspective of companies. There are approaches that measure structural and network dynamics at the level of cities or regions with quantitative methods, sometimes with the help of elaborate multivariate statistics. There are methods that primarily focus on intra-firm location networks, others on extra-firm networks along the value chain. Based on the functional logic of the knowledge economy and its requirement for knowledge creation, this paper evaluates the methodological challenges in analysing relational dynamics of firm networks in space and time. The paper argues for methodological triangulation that combines quantitative and qualitative methods, and raises concerns against the use of computations that are so elaborate that their results escape plausible interpretation.