Exploring Multiculturalism as a Dynamic Factor for Spurring the New Economy, Particularly Present Within Port Cities

Luana Parisi,John Eger

doi:10.11648/j.urp.20200504.13

Abstract

Cities are widely recognized as the preferred places for cultural production and interactions, with their ability to agglomerate high-skilled workers and talented people, and to host services and knowledge infrastructures connected through formal and informal networks. They stand at the intersection points of both physical connections, including passenger travels and trade of goods and non-physical relations. The paper starts from the acknowledgment that innovation comes out as a consequence of these networks, triggering the economic growth and making cities attractive and competitive. It will then investigate the role of the human capital, as the current best productive asset, that acquires a new value in virtue of the social capital. The aim is to demonstrate that multiculturalism is an innovative, dynamic factor for development necessary for cities to thrive, that is particularly present within port cities. These nodes of transportation and relational networks, in fact, are embedded into several activities that go far beyond their boundaries and emerge as places of conflicts, but also of innovation and progress. In order to support the discussion, this contribution will explore the Innovation District of Boston as a significant case study, since, with its strong multiculturalism within a port environment that is deeply changing, the area is favoring the new economy of innovation. The results of the study will highlight the challenging character of stressing multiculturalism in a general climate of mistrust, intolerance and fear and will recognize the fact that in the era of the human capital there is an important element linked to connections, both physical (transportation links) and relational (social capital), that have the ability to transform the look of cities, opening up new opportunities to grow and use the human capital in unexpected ways. A set of possible future scenarios of policies will be proposed as well, considering the diversity added value and the prioritization of physical and relational connections.

Highlights

Under the hegemony of the new globalized economy, the world map has been redrawn in a way never envisioned before
The roots of the innovation economy have to be traced in the work of the economist Joseph Schumpeter, who first acknowledged the pivotal role played by innovation in generating economic prosperity, by means of the so-called “creative destruction”, a “process of industrial mutation that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, Urban and Regional Planning 2020; 5(4): 114-121 incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one” [53]
As explained in the previous sections, the new economic geography is based on highly specialized professional activities, geographically concentrated in urban contexts [51]

Summary

Introduction

Under the hegemony of the new globalized economy, the world map has been redrawn in a way never envisioned before. Within the “innovation-based growth theory”, wealth is no longer dependent on the usual factors of production, such as capital, labor and natural resources, yet, is engendered by knowledge and technological and scientific improvements [2] This approach puts knowledge and information at the center of the stage for tailoring successful strategies aimed at boosting growth and increasing competitiveness. It comprehends a mix of innovations and communities, where “the principal actors are usually for-profit firms, universities and other public and private specialist research organisations and knowledge-based consultancies” [38] With their ability to agglomerate high-skilled workers and talented people, and to host services and knowledge infrastructures, as universities and research centers [13], connected through formal and informal networks [40], cities reveal themselves as the spots where progress and economic development occur [24]. The Boston Innovation District represents an emblematic case study since with its strong multiculturalism within a port environment that is deeply changing, the area is favoring the new economy of innovation, through a new generation of urban planning tools promoted by the City

Multiculturalism and the Role of Human and Social Capital

Port Cities as Multicultural Hubs

The Boston Innovation District as a Significant Case Study

Findings

Conclusions and Future Scenarios