Spatial Patterns of Knowledge-Intensive Business Services in Cities of Various Sizes, Morphologies and Economies

• Main Authors: Jan Ženka, Ondřej Slach, Igor Ivan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-03-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: localization; hubs; cities; urban morphology; kibs
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/5/1845

We compare intra-urban localization patterns of advertising and IT companies in three large Czech cities. The main aim of our analysis is an empirically-based contribution to the question to what extent do knowledge bases affect the spatial distribution of various knowledge-intensive business industries. The central research question is: To what extent is the localization of these two industries influenced by different modes of innovation/knowledge bases (symbolic vs. synthetic) and to what extent by contextual factors, such as urban size, morphology, position in the urban hierarchy and economic profile of the given city. We found that the urban contexts shape the localization patterns of advertising and IT companies more than differences in knowledge bases—both industries cluster primarily in the inner cities and urban cores. Formation of more suburban IT “scientific neighborhoods” is limited.