There are Many Roads to Reindustrialization and Resilience: Place-based Approaches in Three German Urban Regions

Abstract

Reindustrialization has become a major political objective in the European Union. This paper provides three urban case studies on reindustrialization pathways and experiences during the global economic crisis to reveal the specificities of place-based approaches on the local level despite common policies on EU, federal and state levels. Moreover, the evolutionary perspective on reindustrialization and economic resilience shows the importance of adaptive capabilities on the local level, although the sources for these capabilities differ according to context- and place-specific structures.

Keywords:

• reindustrialization
• regional economic resilience
• place-based approaches
• related variety
• evolutionary economic geography

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding

This research was part of the project “Economic Crises: Regional Resilience (ECR2)”, funded by the European Spatial Observatory Network (ESPON).

Notes

1. Eleven interviewees and workshop participants came from Chemnitz, 11 from Dresden, 13 from Leipzig, while the remaining interviewees and workshop participants represented state, federal and supranational level.

2. Based on test runs, we decided not to use computer-based qualitative content analysis (MAXQDA) to remain more flexible in integrating the interviewers’ context experience into the analysis.

3. All data, if not stated otherwise, are taken from official statistics by the German federal and state statistical offices VGRdL (Volkswirtschaftliche Gesamtrechnung der Länder). These data usually cover the development on local urban level between 1992 and 2012. For employment in manufacturing industries, however, only data between 2000 and 2012 were available on the local level.

4. Besides the locations for Fraunhofer institutes, several additional Fraunhofer technology centres and institutes’ affiliates were founded in Saxony.

5. The shares of private R&D investments in GDP, however, still remained below German average (like in the other eastern German states).

6. Interviewees also identified the relatively weak development of regional business service markets as potential cause for low start-up rates, as potential founders in these segments searched for more fertile urban cores.

7. This recognition in Germany was renewed in 2003, when Leipzig became (finally unsuccessful) German candidate for 2012 Summer Olympics forming its successful candidacy in Germany against big West German cities on reminiscences to the peaceful revolution (Heinker, 2004).

8. Porsche had denied to apply for investment grants, as these grants were recognized as non-compatible with the premium car image of the firm.

9. This spatial concentration of young persons’ immigration to few—not all—mid-sized university cities in Germany like Leipzig and Dresden has been increasingly observed since 2010 and does not follow usual explanations based on job opportunities and expected income levels, but social network structures outside the range of conventional local policy instruments to influence migration, see also Simon (2014).

10. Here, interviewees referred to the importance of experiences from previous external shocks, in particular floods in eastern Germany in 2002, for fast decision-making and implementation of adjustments.

11. In 2004, more than 50% of turnover in manufacturing industries in Dresden was realized in the electronic segment.

12. One interviewee described his experience with representatives from western German OEMs, who stressed the excellent and unique quality of products by eastern German suppliers. These suppliers, however, received only a small share of value added due to their low ranking in the supply chain.

13. Between 2008 and 2012, employment in business service sectors grew by 5.5% in Dresden and by 17.4% in Leipzig, while decreased by 4.9% in Chemnitz.

14. As one of the attendees to our practitioners’ workshop stated: “It was striking to see usual conflicts between regional actors disappear when threatened by external shock, but reappear once the shock was overcome”.