planning and the growth of the technology...
TRANSCRIPT
Planning and the growth of the
technology sector
Joseph Kilroy, Policy & Research,
Royal Town Planning Institute
Planning and Tech paper
• Mapping and definitions
• Planning for tech growth
• Capturing the spillover benefits
of tech growth
• Conclusions
What’s so important about the tech
sector?
What’s so important about the tech
sector?
• Britain's technology sector is set to grow four times
faster than GDP this year
• Tech is the country’s fastest-growing occupation
category, with 1.46 million people working in the
digital economy across the UK (roughly 7.5% of the
total UK workforce)
• 50% of UK digital firms have been founded since
2008
Distribution of
tech firms in
the UK
What do we mean by ‘tech’?
“‘Tech’ encompasses a set of industries, outputs and inputs used at varying intensities across the economy as a whole. In
sectoral terms, tech includes information and communications
technology (Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, Accenture) and ‘digital
content’ industries (Apple, Google, Facebook)”
Department for Business Innovation and Skills and Department for Culture Media and Sport, 2009
Benefits of tech sector growth
• The sector is seen as important in helping
contemporary urban economies thrive
• High productivity and rapid growth
• Brings high-skilled, well-paid jobs
• Benefits for wages
• Multiplier effect: 1 job in tech = 1.6 jobs in a non-
tradable sector
• Poverty reduction
Policies to attract the tech sector
• Fiscal and financial incentives
• Human capital development and attraction of
foreign talent
• Enhanced research infrastructure and promote
collaboration and linkages
• Marketing the city as a tech location
Tech sector preferences
• Face to face interaction, divergent thinking, large
social networks, inter firm communication
• Growth facilitated by dynamic physical realm that
supports proximity and knowledge spillovers
• Physically compact, transit-accessible, and
technically-wired districts, offering proximity to
other firms as well as supporting activities and
amenities such as cafes, restaurants and bars
Innovation Districts
Bristol Temple Quarter
Leeds Holbeck Urban Village
Dublin’s Docklands
Recommendations • Monitor local economy using company
registration data
• Employ an individual/team to engage with the
sector (Dublin & Amsterdam)
• Tailor policies - affordable office space, Wi-Fi,
housing
• It’s housing and infrastructure, stupid!
• Masterplanning, upfront investment in sustainable
transport infrastructure, design standards, and
land assembly to deliver vision
Who gains from tech growth?
“As far as job creation is concerned, there is no
inherent contradiction between the interests of high
income workers and those of low-income workers. …
This is a case where the rising tide does lift all boats –
at least all boats that are in the same city.”
Moretti, 2013: 63
Who gains from tech growth?
“Not only is Silicon Valley the home of great
economic wealth; it’s also one of the most
innovative and creative regions of the world. If ever
a rising tide of prosperity were going to lift all boats,
you would expect it to happen here. Yet it doesn’t.
Instead the opposite occurs.”
Florida, 2005: 186
The dark side of ‘tech’?
• Saxenian (1984) highlighted the bifurcated labour market of
Silicon Valley
• Harrison (1994: 309) inequality and stratified local labour
markets were “studiously ignored” in boosterist economic
narratives
• Florida (2005) noted the high and growing levels of inequality in
Silicon Valley
Evidence on ‘success’ and urban inequality
• Innovation and inequality (e.g. Lee & Rodriguez-Pose 2013;
Breau et al. 2014)
• Urban inequality more generally (e.g. Essletzbichler 2015)
• Spillovers from high to low skilled labour markets (Sassen,
1991; Kaplanis, 2010a; 2010b)
Capturing spillover benefits
• Use technology to deliver public services (Waste
collection; procurement)
• Upskill the local community
• Take advantage of tech firms’ skills and resources
to address infrastructural challenges (Barcelona
Bitcarrier; CityMapper)
• Collaborate with tech firms in urban regeneration
projects
