IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ecdequ/v36y2022i4p343-354.html

Innovation Districts and Community Building: An Effective Strategy for Community Economic Development?

Author

Listed:
  • Carla Maria Kayanan
  • Joshua Drucker
  • Henry Renski

Abstract

Innovation districts are being advocated for their potential to create or revitalize communities, produce neighborhoods with housing near work, and benefit surrounding communities by creating jobs for a wide range of skill sets. However, these aspirations are often mismatched with the application of innovation districts. Analyzing four innovation districts (Boston, Detroit, St. Louis, and San Diego), we demonstrate how the direction of innovation district development determines whether community goals are realized. Promoting innovation involves prioritizing high-skilled workers. When real estate development takes center stage, market demands become the focus. The construction of high-end housing, entertainment, and retail amenities may leave affordable housing options for lower-skilled workers as secondary considerations. Surging real estate prices within and around an innovation district can eventually push out long-standing residents, further negating the innovation district as a space for a diversity of people, ages, resources, and amenities.

Suggested Citation

  • Carla Maria Kayanan & Joshua Drucker & Henry Renski, 2022. "Innovation Districts and Community Building: An Effective Strategy for Community Economic Development?," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 36(4), pages 343-354, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecdequ:v:36:y:2022:i:4:p:343-354
    DOI: 10.1177/08912424221120016
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/08912424221120016
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/08912424221120016?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Patrick Kline & Enrico Moretti, 2014. "People, Places, and Public Policy: Some Simple Welfare Economics of Local Economic Development Programs," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 629-662, August.
    2. Bakry Elmedni & Nicole Christian & Crystal Stone, 2018. "Business improvement districts (BIDs): An economic development policy or a tool for gentrification," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 1502241-150, January.
    3. Montgomery, James D, 1991. "Social Networks and Labor-Market Outcomes: Toward an Economic Analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(5), pages 1407-1418, December.
    4. Jason Hackworth, 2018. "Race and the Production of Extreme Land Abandonment in the American Rust Belt," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(1), pages 51-73, January.
    5. EUGENE J. McCANN, 2007. "Inequality and Politics in the Creative City‐Region: Questions of Livability and State Strategy," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 188-196, March.
    6. Corinne Autant‐Bernard & Jacques Mairesse & Nadine Massard, 2007. "Spatial knowledge diffusion through collaborative networks," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 86(3), pages 341-350, August.
    7. Gilles Duranton & Diego Puga, 2020. "The Economics of Urban Density," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(3), pages 3-26, Summer.
    8. Gwendolyn Blue & Marit Rosol & Victoria Fast, 2019. "Justice as Parity of Participation," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 85(3), pages 363-376, July.
    9. Michael Storper & Anthony J. Venables, 2004. "Buzz: face-to-face contact and the urban economy," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(4), pages 351-370, August.
    10. Susan Christopherson & Michael Kitson & Jonathan Michie, 2008. "Innovation, networks and knowledge exchange," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 1(2), pages 165-173.
    11. Gregory M. Spencer, 2015. "Knowledge Neighbourhoods: Urban Form and Evolutionary Economic Geography," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(5), pages 883-898, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Haegi Kwon, 2026. "Looking in, Leveraging, and Locking: An Asset-Based Framework for Economic Development Policy and Practice," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 40(1), pages 101-113, February.
    2. Gang Li & Qifeng Yuan & Xiao Liu & Wei Zhan & Shuya Yang, 2025. "Measuring Intra-Urban Innovation Space from the Unit-Network Perspective: A Case Study of Guangzhou," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-22, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Carla M. Kayanan, 2022. "A critique of innovation districts: Entrepreneurial living and the burden of shouldering urban development," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 54(1), pages 50-66, February.
    2. Sara Amoroso & Alex Coad & Nicola Grassano, 2017. "European R&D networks: A snapshot from the 7th EU Framework Programme," JRC Working Papers on Corporate R&D and Innovation JRC107546, Joint Research Centre (Seville site).
    3. Balázs Lengyel & Rikard H. Eriksson, 2017. "Co-worker networks, labour mobility and productivity growth in regions," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(3), pages 635-660.
    4. Richard Shearmur & David Doloreux, 2025. "The micro-geography of knowledge exchanges in Montreal: Questioning the importance of the neighbourhood scale in an age of virtual communications," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 62(10), pages 2069-2096, August.
    5. Neumark, David & Simpson, Helen, 2015. "Place-Based Policies," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 1197-1287, Elsevier.
    6. Sara Amoroso & Alex Coad & Nicola Grassano, 2018. "European R&D networks: a snapshot from the 7th EU Framework Programme," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(5-6), pages 404-419, August.
    7. Diego Barrado-Timón & Antonio Palacios & Carmen Hidalgo-Giralt, 2020. "Medium and Small Cities, Culture and the Economy of Culture. A Review of the Approach to the Case of Spain in Light of International Scientific Scholarship," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-28, September.
    8. Crescenzi, Riccardo & Giua, Mara & Rigo, Davide, 2022. "How many jobs can be done at home? Not as many as you think!," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 117523, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Katja Gehr & Michael Pflüger, 2025. "Cities, Aggregate Welfare, and Growth," CESifo Working Paper Series 11716, CESifo.
    10. Jan Ženka & Ondřej Slach & Igor Ivan, 2020. "Spatial Patterns of Knowledge-Intensive Business Services in Cities of Various Sizes, Morphologies and Economies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-19, March.
    11. André Torre & Frederic Wallet Wallet, 2013. "The role of proximity relations in regional and territorial development processes," ERSA conference papers ersa13p792, European Regional Science Association.
    12. Iris Wanzenböck & Philipp Piribauer, 2018. "R&D networks and regional knowledge production in Europe: Evidence from a space‐time model," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 97(S1), pages 1-24, March.
    13. Mafini Dosso & Antonio Vezzani, 2020. "Firm market valuation and intellectual property assets," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(7), pages 705-729, August.
    14. Zhao, Juanjuan & Bentlage, Michael & Thierstein, Alain, 2017. "Residence, workplace and commute: Interrelated spatial choices of knowledge workers in the metropolitan region of Munich," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 197-212.
    15. Jan Ženka & Luděk Krtička & Lenka Paszová & Tereza Pundová & Kateřina Rudincová & Simona Šťastná & Veronika Svetlíková & Jan Matula, 2021. "Micro-Geographies of Information and Communication Technology Firms in a Shrinking Medium-Sized Industrial City of Ostrava (Czechia)," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-26, July.
    16. Gilles Duranton & Jessie Handbury, 2023. "COVID and Cities, Thus Far," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 29(2), pages 6-52, October.
    17. Martina Neuländtner & Thomas Scherngell, 2020. "Geographical or relational: What drives technology-specific R&D collaboration networks?," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 65(3), pages 743-773, December.
    18. Tara Vinodrai, 2011. "Understanding Canada’s Evolving Design Economy," Chapters, in: David Emanuel Andersson & Åke E. Andersson & Charlotta Mellander (ed.), Handbook of Creative Cities, chapter 8, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. Stephen Carley & Alan L. Porter, 2012. "A forward diversity index," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 90(2), pages 407-427, February.
    20. Marta Gancarczyk, 2010. "Model schyłku i odrodzenia klastrów," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 3, pages 1-21.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ecdequ:v:36:y:2022:i:4:p:343-354. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.