Does broadband internet allow cities to ‘borrow size’? Evidence from the Swedish labour market

Borrowed size refers to the idea that small cities near larger metropolitan centres can reap the advantages of large agglomerations, but without the costs of agglomeration. The study explores whether broadband internet helps such smaller cities to enjoy the labour market benefits of a larger city. Using Swedish micro-data from 2007 to 2015,...

Information Technology and Local Product Variety: Substitution, Complementarity and Spillovers

This paper addresses the interaction between information technology (IT) and agglomeration. The literature distinguishes two types of interactions, namely a substitution effect and a complementarity effect. We conceptualise a third effect, namely a ‘spillover’ mechanism, by which IT allows places in close proximity of large cities to ‘borrow...

Stretching the concept of 'borrowed size'

‘Borrowed size’ is an emerging policy concept in several European countries, presenting theoretical potential to explain contemporary urban dynamics unaddressed through conventional urban growth theories that emphasise the role of agglomeration economies. In its original conceptualisation by Alonso, the concept describes and explains the...

Polycentricity, Performance and Planning: Concepts, Evidence and Policy in Barcelona, Catalonia

Despite strong efforts made by scholars to study the polycentric spatial organization of agglomeration in metropolitan areas, there is still no consensus about the conceptualization (i.e., identification and measurement) of polycentricity and its economic, social, and environmental (dis)advantages. Additionally, little is known in the policy...