Cities as the Industrial Districts of Housebuilding

Authors

Michael Buzzelli, Queen's University - Kingston, Ontario
Richard Harris, McMaster University

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.