The industrial districts in the third millennium: old gives way to new in many unexpected ways

What is the future of the industrial districts? Various researches show that the Italian industrial districts are rapidly changing. But they are not about to disappear: on the contrary, they are evolving towards more complex networked and multi-localized forms of organization. A recent book, edited by Fabrizio Guelpa and Stefano Micelli, depicts the main features and stages in this transformation, which is crucial for the future competitiveness of Italian economy, as a whole, and for the expected productivity growth of its different regional systems. On this basis, the articles seeks to trace out the districts’ evolutionary paths in a long-period perspective. The idea proposed is that local production chains will become immaterial multi-localized networks, growing around some key-ideas (quality of life, full service flexibility, cultural models, emotional experience) and some sense-making processes of value production.