Geography & Environment Publications
Cities as the Industrial Districts of Housebuilding
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-2006
Volume
30
Issue
4
Journal
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research
First Page
894
Last Page
917
URL with Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2006.00695.x
Abstract
In North America the housebuilding industry is ubiquitous and locally autonomous. In Ontario during the 1990s, 81% of urban single-family homes were erected by locally based builders, a proportion that varied with urban isolation. Urban areas may be regarded as the industrial districts of home builders: numerous small, specialized firms interact frequently within a rich, embedded market network; subcontracting is the norm; networks and firm boundaries are fluid. The theory of industrial districts offers a useful vocabulary for analysing the neglected building industry. Analytically, the building industry offers unequalled opportunities to explore the dynamics of industrial districts, and how economic globalization meets local limits.
Notes
Dr. Michael Buzzelli is currently a faculty member at The University of Western Ontario.