Lock-in, paradox and regional renewal

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on the interaction between political and cognitive lock-in in stalling attempts at regional renewal of old industrial regions. It draws on analysis of the city of Anchorage, Alaska. The decline of the oil industry has been followed by a gridlock: a pattern of being stuck and polarized. This gridlock is caused by a particular type of lock-in: an excessive polarization to individual economic gain has at the same time removed incentives to develop capabilities at the collective level. A key implication is that the inability to perceive and work with paradox is a cognitive barrier sustaining political lock-in.

KEYWORDS:

• old industrial regions
• political lock-in
• cognitive lock-in
• gridlock
• self-collective paradox
• case study

JEL:

• D79
• R58

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This paper benefitted greatly from the networking and counsel of Archana Mishra. Archana also informed us about the history of Anchorage. The authors are deeply grateful to the local primary and secondary schools that funded the research motivated by a desire to develop a different generation of leader. They also thank the research participants and leaders of the City of Anchorage, all of whom were deeply engaging, insightful and striving for a thriving Anchorage. The authors thank the journal editor and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on their manuscript. The usual disclaimer applies.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. The views and opinions expressed in this paper are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the research participants or the City of Anchorage.

Notes

1. This understanding of cognitive lock-in is different, but related, to the cognitive dimensions of techno-industrial variety that are argued to foster inter-industry learning processes and regional development pathways grounded in related and unrelated diversification as suggested by the evolutionary economic geography literature (Boschma, 2015).

2. We thank an anonymous reviewer for this insightful suggestion.

Additional information

Funding

The data collection and analysis for this research was funded by a collaboration between the authors and a network of schools in Brisbane, QLD, Australia. These schools included: Kelvin Grove State College, Indooroopilly State High School, John Paul College and Ironside Primary School. The schools are investing in research aimed at developing the next generation of capable regional leaders. Lars Coenen gratefully acknowledges funding from the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme [grant agreement number 872526 - RRI2SCALE: ‘Responsible Research and Innovation Ecosystems at Regional Scale for Intelligent Cities, Transport and Energy’].