Local Economic Transformation Research Articles

STRATEGI PEMBERDAYAAN EKONOMI MELALUI INOVASI TEKNOLOGI AIR BERSIH: STUDI KASUS PENERAPAN REVERSE OSMOSIS DAN PERINTISAN BISNIS

The helplessness of coastal communities in processing salt and brackish water into drinking water is a great irony of modern society, in the midst of technological advances and the industrial era 4.0. The problem in the coastal areas of Sungai Kakap subdistrict, Kubu Raya district, is the lack of availability of clean water and the absence of clean water infrastructure. Peat groundwater in coastal deltas cannot support the use of groundwater sources due to high levels of acid and organic substances. This can trigger problems of poor community sanitation and cause the community's inability to optimize the potential of villages that have abundant natural resources. This activity aims to empower and increase community participation in designing and processing brackish/salt water into drinking water using Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology to meet the need for hygienic ready-to-drink water. Small scale water treatment system design using ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. The raw water used comes from river surface water in coastal areas. The small-scale water treatment design consists of two FRP tubes containing filter media, three filter cartridges, and UF and RO membranes. Two thrust pumps, with a minimum pressure specification of 40 m, are used to provide pressure that exceeds osmosis pressure so that raw water can be filtered through the RO membrane. The results of the activity show that the implementation of the RO system has succeeded in increasing the availability of clean water in Sungai Itik Village, which previously experienced challenges in providing adequate water supply. In addition, the integration of local business startups with RO technology opens up new opportunities for local residents to participate in the local economy and increase family income. Key factors supporting the success of this economic empowerment strategy were identified, including active community involvement in planning and implementation, collaboration between local government and local stakeholders, and adoption of new technologies and skills by local communities. This activity provides an important contribution in understanding the role of clean water technology innovation as a catalyst for local economic transformation in coastal areas. The practical implications of these findings can help decision makers in designing sustainable and effective policies to improve the welfare of coastal communities through sustainable economic empowerment. The use of this technology can help increase the availability of clean water in areas that previously experienced difficulties in this regard.

Response to Berglund Letter Regarding “Industrial Policy and Local Economic Transformation: Evidence from the Rust Belt”

Response to Berglund Letter Regarding <i>“Industrial Policy and Local Economic Transformation: Evidence from the Rust Belt”</i>

Industrial Policy and Local Economic Transformation: Evidence From the U.S. Rust Belt

State and local governments frequently invest in policies aimed at stimulating the growth of new industries, but studies of industrial policy and related economic development initiatives cast doubt on their effectiveness. This article examines the role of state-level industrial policies in contributing to the different economic trajectories of two U.S. metro areas—Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Cleveland, Ohio—as they adapted to the decline of their legacy industries. Comparative case studies show that industrial policies in Pittsburgh, which empowered research universities as local economic leaders, contributed to the transformation of the local economy. In Cleveland, by contrast, state industrial policies invested in making incremental improvements, particularly in legacy sectors. The article concludes that by empowering new local economic actors—such as universities—industrial policies can foment political change that enables structural economic change to follow.

Rethinking city transformation: Florence from art city to creative fashion city

ABSTRACTThe paper aims to contribute to the debate of the economic transformation on cities discussing the case of Florence and its evolution from ‘art city’ to ‘creative fashion city’. According to the evolutionary vision of the path dependence model, the paper analyses the birth, development and establishment of the fashion industry within the city. This analysis seeks to understand if cultural and creative resources may contribute to the emergence of new trajectories or to the renewal – or decline – of existing ones. Results show that the existence of an endowment of cultural and creative assets and a base of knowledge and competences historically related to the artisanal tradition foster the creation of a fashion cluster. Despite the specificities of the case, the paper may give some insights of risks and opportunities related to rethinking the local economic transformation following a cultural-led and creativity-oriented approach.

The role of path-dependence in the local economic transformation

The examination focuses on the issue of path-dependence, which is considered to be the core concept of evolutionary economic geography emphasizing the importance of historical development. Although the notion of path-dependence is used both in negative and positive contexts, we place the latter in focus leaving room for changes, as we are interested in the question how the local economic base can be reinforced by the development of perspective activities. Our key question involves aspects of regional development, namely how medium-sized settlements can be positioned as hubs in the economic space dominated by large cities in the age of globalization. With regard to the opportunities for establishing localization-type agglomeration advantages, which are important for the generation of positive feedback mechanisms in the broadest sense, the healthcare industry appears to be a perspective research field in the case of our examined city, Debrecen. Not only significant traditions and remarkable weight does the sector represent in the economy of the city, but the development ideas. In our presentation we attempt to delineate the corporate and institutional actors of the local healthcare industry. On the other hand, the companies are examined in three temporal sections after the change of regime, in order to unfold the dynamic segments of the healthcare industry. Business registers and corporate databases of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office are analysed in addition to the evaluation of corporate reports, press releases and documents of economic development reinforcement of healthcare industry constitutes a columnar component of the local.

Indigenous Technologies and Innovation in Nigeria: Opportunities for SMEs

The aim of this paper is to advance the position that Nigeria's indigenous technologies present significant opportunities for local economic transformation and, to some extent, for global competitiveness. An analysis of three major indige- nous technology clusters in Nigeria, as well as a review of three successful country cases was performed. This was with a view to identifying structural and policy directions for the country. The study provided preliminary insight into a very broad landscape and call for further analyses relating to mapping the Indigenous Knowledge (IK) and Indigenous Technology (I-Tech) systems of economies.

Women, Identity and Activism in Asian and Pacific Community Economies

Katherine Gibson argues that as an antidote to capitalist globalization it is necessary to identify the full range of economic identities that people occupy and the multiple directions that local economic transformation might take. She suggests that an economic politics of place can build upon the distinctiveness of the diverse economies that inhabit specific economic landscapes. Using the lens of a diverse economy, she elaborates what community economy activism might be and introduces three stories of women's role in building and strengthening non-capitalist community economies in place.

Local government, enterprises and individuals: Economic transformation in the pearl river delta

The Pearl River (Zhujiang) Delta (PRD) has been a focal point in reform era academic circles not only for its dramatic industrial growth but also the simultaneous agricultural development. Unlike most of existing research on the PRD economic development and transformation from the whole region level, this paper explored this question from the perspective of a township using Beijiao in Shunde City as a case study. Unlike the conclusions of existing studies which attribute the regional economic transition to the macro factors, particularly the influence of external investment, this research reveals that at the level of township, the local government, the town-village owned enterprises and the individuals have been playing remarkable roles in local economic transformation. In the early stage since the economic reform, Beijiao township government, replacing the central and provincial governments before, began to manipulate the development of town-village owned enterprises and lead the local economic transformation from agricultural to industrial dominated. As the town-village owned enterprises grew during the later years, they gradually acted as the main dominant player leading the local agricultural and industrial growth. At the same time the individuals in Beijiao were playing more independent role to gain their most profits. While the local government changed to be the real manager of local economies. So the local economic transition was not entirely externally driven. In another word, the “driven from outside” model can not totally explain the economic fact in this specific region.