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Metropolitan Geographies of Advanced Producer Services: Centrality and Concentration in Brussels

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  • Maëlys Waiengnier
  • Gilles Van Hamme
  • Reijer Hendrikse
  • David Bassens

Abstract

The literature on global and world cities points towards a growing concentration of advanced producer services (APS) firms in a restricted number of cities, who execute strategic command and control functions over globalised capitalism. However, relatively little attention has been paid to how APS are located within such cities. We argue that APS locations within cities are related to two partly independent processes: localisation economies and centralisation dynamics, which result in patterns of concentration and centrality superimposed on socio‐historical constructions of urban space. Utilising data from a national company register, we analyse the local insertion of APS firms in the Brussels’ metropolitan area in light of these two processes. The outcome reveals that only some of Brussels’ APS firms are concentrated and central, which we suggest to be the most strategic and internationalised APS functions.

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  • Maëlys Waiengnier & Gilles Van Hamme & Reijer Hendrikse & David Bassens, 2020. "Metropolitan Geographies of Advanced Producer Services: Centrality and Concentration in Brussels," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 111(4), pages 585-600, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:tvecsg:v:111:y:2020:i:4:p:585-600
    DOI: 10.1111/tesg.12394
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    Cited by:

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    2. Lu Zhang & Renyan Mu & Nigatu Mengesha Fentaw & Yuanfang Zhan & Feng Zhang & Jixin Zhang, 2022. "Industrial Coagglomeration, Green Innovation, and Manufacturing Carbon Emissions: Coagglomeration’s Dynamic Evolution Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-19, October.
    3. Mathias Heidinger & Fabian Wenner & Sebastian Sager & Paul Sussmann & Alain Thierstein, 2023. "Where do knowledge-intensive firms locate in Germany?—An explanatory framework using exponential random graph modeling [Welche Standorte wählen wissensintensive Unternehmen in Deutschland? – Ein Er," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 43(1), pages 101-124, April.
    4. Guojian Hu & Xiaomin Liang & Yuqi Lu & Yu Chen, 2021. "Interprovincial separation between headquarters and registered addresses: The case of listed companies in China," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 1080-1098, June.

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