Zertuche, LN; Davis, H; Griffiths, S; Dino, B; Vaughan, L; (2017) The spatial ordering of knowledge economies: The growth of furniture industry in nineteenth-century London. In: Proceedings of the 11th International Space Syntax Symposium. (pp. 95.1-95.22). Instituto Superior Tecnico, Departamentode Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Georrecursos, Portugal: Lisbon, Portugal.

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Abstract

Small businesses in the same sector tend to be geographically concentrated. Understanding why businesses in some industries cluster is a key issue in urban economic theory, particularly in the Marshallian and Jacobsian traditions. These emphasize the logistical and informational synergies (advantages) that accrue to firms in agglomeration economies, allowing firms located near one another to accelerate their rate of innovation. However, little is known about how spatial forms foster the clustering of firms or the mechanisms through which this process might facilitate knowledge spillover over between different businesses. In this paper we present an historical case study in which space syntax methods, archival research and urban economic theory were used to enhance understanding of the spatial ordering of London's nineteenth-and early twentieth-century furniture industry, a sector characterised by a proliferation of small, local firms. The spatial morphologies of the furniture industry in the Shoreditch and Fitzrovia areas of London are profiled by linking business directories, historical Ordnance Survey maps and Goad fire insurance plans to space syntax measures describing the spatial configuration of London's street network, on a GIS platform. Historically, the two casestudy areas have hosted a wide range of furniture-manufacturing businesses. We hypothesise that the contrast between the spatial structures of the two districts contributed to the divergent paths development of the furniture industry in these places. Our results suggest the two areas developed as different knowledge economies, in part as a consequence of their contrasting spatial configurations and their influence on industrial organization. Shoreditch became a 'specialization' economy (i.e. Marshallian). Here the organic pattern of streets allowed specialized businesses to be located in close proximity to key streets, benefiting from more local footfall, and in close localization of firms belonging to the same industry. Fitzrovia, however, showed a more 'diversified' economy (i.e. Jacobsian), accommodating most of its retailers on streets highly integrated across scales and more commercially-driven. In the context of constraints of land use and rising land values, manufacturing operations moved to other places whilst retaining large-size firms that created a retail destination in a high footfall location good for attracting passing trade. We anticipate that this research will contribute to understanding the distinctive spatial cultures of urban manufacturing and to the development of a methodological approach that opens up new prospects for inter-disciplinary research.

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