2013 Volume 65 Issue 2 Pages 129-147
The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on collective learning in urban agglomeration and examine the roles of community and regional identity.
Over the past few decades, a considerable number of studies have been conducted on industrial clustering in the field of economic geography and regional development. It has been recently recognized that collective learning offers the key to an understanding of local competitive advantage in the rise of the knowledge economy. Although studies of urban milieus have been made about collective learning practice, the process is only vaguely understood and there are questions that remain unsettled.
First, classical location theories such as those of Marshall and Hoover are examined to note the position of urban agglomeration research within agglomeration research in general. Second, the literature on urban milieus is reviewed and the growing concern about the collective learning process is pointed out. In particular, this paper highlights the role of associations such as chambers of commerce and industry. Third, the role of community is discussed. Since learning practice is closely related to the process of cognition, the problems of identity sharing and changes in identity are mentioned. Finally, under the influence of a resurgence of community theory, research prospects for collective learning are summarized.
