Single-industry Town Research Articles

СОЦИАЛЬНЫЕ ФАКТОРЫ РАЗВИТИЯ МОНОГОРОДОВ

A single-industry town, or monotown, is a socio-economic system that possesses specific goals and functions as vectors of its development. In this connection, relatively new social requirements appear along with the traditional evolutionary factors. These new requirements involve conditions for the formation of human capital assets, the level of sociocultural infrastructure, the quality of urban communities, and the degree of development of communications. Therefore, the list of strategic criteria for the development of single-industry towns should include indicators of the quality of the social sphere and the quality of life of the population. The research develops evaluation approaches based on identification of the concept and definition of the structural components of the urban social sphere. The paper proposes methods for forecasting the level of the social infrastructure of a single-industry city. The study features the case of Shakhty, a large mining community in the Rostov region. The research defines the necessity for monitoring the dynamics of the development of the social sphere in single-industry towns, formulates groups of criteria for effectiveness management, summarizes the principles of their scaling, and provides recommendations for evaluation of the socio-economic development level. An analysis of the dynamics of the social sphere development in a single-industry town should become an adequate non-ideological integral social and economic criterion for the effectiveness and efficiency of municipal management.

Dependence at a distance: Labour mobility and the evolution of the single industry town

Key Messages Commute work has created a new settlement phenomenon—resource dependent‐at‐a‐distance communities. As with traditional single industry towns, dependent‐at‐a‐distance communities are vulnerable during resource downturns. New policies are required to address the problems faced by dependent‐at‐a‐distance communities.

Динамический подход к оценке процесса диверсификации экономики моногорода

Динамический подход к оценке процесса диверсификации экономики моногорода

“We’re all in this together”? The search for collective belonging in a globalised single industry town

PurposeCommunities of work are a phenomenon closely associated with government social and industrial policy, and can be tracked in contemporary examples globally alongside industrial development. The purpose of this paper is to explore community identity within a town which was previously single industry, but has since experienced workforce reduction and to a large degree, industry withdrawal.Design/methodology/approachUsing an inductive approach, the researchers interviewed 32 participants who had resided (past or present) within the instrumental case study town. A thematic analytical framework, drawing on the work of Boje (2007) was employed.FindingsA significant theme to emerge from the participants was the public assertion of social cohesion and belonging. However, what was interesting, was that beneath this unified exterior, lay accounts of multiple forms of demarcation. Drawing on Benedict Anderson’s (1983) notion of the imagined community, and Bauman’s (2001) identity in globalisation, this contradiction is conceptualised as boundary-making moments of identification and disidentification.Research limitations/implicationsThis research is specific to the New Zealand context, although holds many points of interest for the wider international audience. The research provides a broad example of the layering of the collective and individual levels of identity.Social implicationsThis research provides a voice to the wider individual, community and societal implications of managerial practices entwined with political decisions. This research encourages managers and educators in our business schools to seek to understand the relationship between the political, corporate, community and individual realms.Originality/valueThis research makes a significant contribution to understandings of the interconnectedness of social policy, industry, and the lived experiences of individuals. Moreover, it contributes to the broader single industry town literature, which previously has focussed on stories of decline from a North American context.

Комплексное развитие моногородов: опыт Самарской области

Introduction. Sustainable development of the country and its individual regions largely depends on the socio-economic development of a special type – single-industry towns. Russia is characterized by 319 single-industry municipalities, including 100 ones with the most difficult social and economic situations. The 206 single-industry town unemployment rate exceeds the average. The continued dependence of single-industry towns on the core enterprises’ functioning, the poor quality of the urban environment trigger the need for the effective instruments of support and development in single-industry areas.Aims. The purpose of the paper is to study the conditions and trends of modern socio-economic development of single-industry areas in Samara region and to summarize the experience of the region in meeting the challenges of complex development of single-industry towns (for example, Tolyatti).The following methods were used: systems analysis, analogy and comparison, generalization, content analysis, statistical analysis. These methods allow ensuring reliability of the research and validity of theoretical conclusions and proposals.Results. Traditional and new tools of state support for single-industry areas at the federal and regional levels of government are systematized. The prerequisites and trends in the socio-economic development in Tolyatti in 2010–2015 are analyzed. Practices in Samara region in the state support single-industry city districts represented by Tolyatti are summarized. Current restrictions that impede the implementation of integrated development projects in Tolyatti are identified. Conclusion. The main barriers to a positive effect from the use of state instruments are the existing constraints in employment in Tolyatti – highly specialized areas of personnel’s expertise, the outflow of highly qualified specialists; residents’ mentality. The current restrictions in the multi-faceted socio-economic development in Tolyatti can be eliminated in several ways: successful functioning of the priority development territory; setting up an engineering center; the development of a new educational system; improving the urban environment. The tools of state support in Tolyatti refer to the traditional tools – subsidies and privileged taxation for the investors in the existing special economic zone “Tolyatti”, as well as the new ones, including Single-industry Town Development Fund, priority development territory, project management based on the program “Integrated Development of Single-Industry Towns”. Special attention is paid to the employees’ selection for Samara region teams managing the projects aimed to develop single-industry towns and to inform and to consult single-industry town development projects

Особенности развития малого предпринимательства в старопромышленном моногороде Чапаевске Самарской области

Introduction. In current Russian environment, small business is seen as a factor contributing into the diversification of the economy of single-industry cities. The most favorable conditions to develop an entrepreneurial initiative, taking into account local factors, are an integral part of the state’s policy towards mono-profile municipal entities. Peculiarities of the implementation of entrepreneurship in particular urban settlements are determined by the varying degree of economic development and innovative activity of the territories of their dislocation, the peculiarity and variation in the ways of modernization of single-industry towns. The aim of this work is to study the functioning features of business development models, formed by measures of state support for mono-profile municipal entities and small businesses, to clarify the areas of state support for entrepreneurial initiative in the old industrial single-industry town, which is a part of a large agglomeration. Methods are systematic approach, methods of theoretical research, statistical analysis, expert assessments. Results. The scientific understandings of the innovative role of entrepreneurship in the modernization of old industrial cities and the network form of small business organization supported in economically and innovatively active regions by agglomeration processes are systematized. Demographic, socio-economic and ecological indicators of Chapaevsk in comparison with the indicators of Samara region are analyzed, the state and dynamics, branch specialization, scope and areas of state support of small business in Chapaevsk urban district are looked at. Factors hampering private initiative were studied, and the influence of agglomeration on the growth of small business in a single-industry town was investigated. The areas to support the entrepreneurial initiative in the old industrial single-industry towns are the formation and preservation of human capital, the development of the creative potential of the local community, the transformation and improvement of the urban space comfort, the improvement of the quality of life and the organization of effective network interaction that provides flexible specialization of the single-industry economy. Conclusion. The conclusions of the paper can be used as a basis for the activities of state and municipal government bodies to improve the efficiency, implemented and planned measures to support small businesses in the old industrial single-industry towns, and should be detailed in the process of further research work in the field of regional policy for the modernization of single-industry towns.

Mutualism beyond the “Mutual”: The Collective Development of a New Zealand Single Industry Town Hospital

Mutualism beyond the “Mutual”: The Collective Development of a New Zealand Single Industry Town Hospital

A method of assessment of sustainability of social and labor relations of a city-forming enterprise and a single-industry town

In this article we consider one of the tools for managing a single-industry town – a method of assessment of its social and labor relations sustainability. We describe a mathematical model of calculating the integrated index and give instant assessment examples.

Ernst Plischke and the Design of Urban New Zealand, 1939–47

Viennese architect Ernst Plischke arrived in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1939 as a refugee from Nazi Europe. His long career began and ended in his native Austria, but he spent 24 influential years in New Zealand, first in government service and then in private practice. This paper will focus on the first nine years of Plischke’s time there when he worked for the Department of Housing and Construction and was involved in the design of multi-unit housing projects, community centres, state housing subdivisions and hydrotowns. Using examples at a range of scales, this paper will demonstrate how Plischke adapted his work in response to the opportunities and constraints present in the alien urban environment he encountered in his adopted country, and evaluate the appropriateness of the strategies he devised in the formation of an urban place, where the dominant context was the suburb and single-industry town.

Стратегическое регулирование процессов структурных преобразований в экономике моногорода

Стратегическое регулирование процессов структурных преобразований в экономике моногорода

Path creation in a single-industry town: The case of Verdal and Windcluster Mid-Norway

Path creation is a new topic in economic geography and stems from the debate on path dependence. The article fills a gap in the path creation literature by exploring old and new path trajectories in a ‘constraining context’, namely a single-industry town. The authors analyse the development of this local system in an evolutionary perspective. Empirical data are drawn from a case study of the specialized offshore oil and gas industry town of Verdal in Central Norway. Two exogenous shocks to this local economy and the responses they provoked are pivotal to the analysis. The first shock led to upgrading and diversification effects. The second shock led to the attempted path creation discussed in the article: the initiative to develop Windcluster Mid-Norway (WMN), which was a response to the downturn in the oil and gas industry and simultaneous expectations of growth in the wind-energy sector. The explicit aim was to combine resources from both sectors. The authors argue that new path creation in single-industry regions differs from the related context of ‘old industry regions’ and that exogenous shocks and external support are necessary elements in the process.

Trust and risk in a German chemical town

This article examines the relationship between trust and risk in one of the centres of the global chemical industry, Ludwigshafen in Germany. A single industry town associated for 150 years with BASF, the dominant outlook among those living or working there has been one of trust, confidence and pride in the corporation which has ‘put the town on the map’. Yet beneath the surface, subtle shifts in public assumptions and expectations about BASF and the town's chemical industry are now occurring. We describe the parameters of public reflection about trust and risk, analyse how characterizations of BASF are changing, and consider how far recent writing on trust helps in understanding its salience in this particular industrial town.

The Regulation of Restructuring: Corner Brook 1984

Restructuring is interpreted as an act of social regulation involving negotiations amongst corporate interests, labour, and the state. In Corner Brook, Newfoundland, these interests were brought together in 1984 when the long-time owners of the local paper mill, the main employer in this single-industry town, put it up for sale. Restructuring was essential in order to secure the long-term future of the mill and the town, but its achievement in situ required difficult negotiations. The new forms of production needed to modernise the mill entailed greater structural rigidity in plant operations, matched by greater flexibility of the labour force. This goal was to be achieved through costabilisation of the various elements forming the local regime of accumulation, with the local state playing a key role as facilitator, guarantor, and promoter of restructuring. It culminated in the passage of two controversial acts by the provincial legislature to satisfy the demands of the potential corporate purchaser of the mill.

When the Going Gets Tough: Economic Reality and the Cultural Myths of Small-Town America

Abstract Until the early 20th century the small town was the most common form of social organization experienced by Americans. Though few Americans today have had that experience, their idealized image of the traditional small town still defines their notions of community and social relationships. The result is an unintentional, collective self-deception in which people mistake their real communities for those of American myth. The deception has serious implications for the practice of planning in small towns. This article is a case study of one such community, a single-industry small town that sees itself as a traditional town. We first describe the history and economy of the community and then explore its culture and community ideology and their implications for planning there and in similar communities.

Community stability and forest policy in British Columbia

Many jurisdictions including British Columbia have adopted sustained-yield forest management as the cornerstone of their forest policies. It has been argued that one consequence is 'community stability.' This paper examines the origins of the argument and its validity in the current context. It is concluded that the permanence or survival of forest industry centres is neither assured by nor solely dependent upon the perpetual maintenance of nearby forests at or near sustained-yield levels. Rather the size and distribution of wood-processing centres seems to be determined by technological economies of scale and location with respect to means of transportation. Secondly, even-flow regulations perse cannot achieve short-term stability of employment or incomes when the forest industry of a region produces primarily for volatile export markets.Evidence is presented to show that the logging, processing, and associated occupations are unstable, relative to other occupational groups, in each of the forest industry centres examined. The instability of total employment seems much greater in a single-industry town than in a diversified city. Much of the short-term employment instability is correlated with changes in the price of lumber destined for export markets. Some means of reducing the instability are discussed.