New High-Speed Rail stations are often expected to act as catalysts for regional and local urban and economic development. Accessibility improvements are assumed to increase locational attractiveness for households and companies, motivating municipal decision-makers to allocate land for urban development projects, particularly in the immediate vicinity of new stations. However, most empirical studies call such automatic effects into question, pointing to the importance of additional local factors, such as station location within the urban context. We construct a dataset of 232 stations in 11 countries in Europe to analyse evolving station placement strategies as well as land use changes in the surroundings of High-Speed Rail stations before and after construction. We find that stations close to the existing urban fabric and well connected by complementary regional and local public transport are on average associated with more land use change, while peripheral stations outside of metropolitan regions hardly attract any development.

Only since the early 1990s, when unemployment rates in Switzerland soared to unprecedented levels, has federal technology and innovation policy begun to design their activities with regard to employment and the establishment of new firms. Now, all across the country, private as well as public incubator facilities, technology and innovation centres have begun to spring up. This paper starts by describing the theoretical and methodological background of a survey of incubator, technology and innovation (ITI) centres. In a first step, all cantonal offices for economic promotion were asked to report and to describe incubator facilities, technology and innovation centres within their realm. In a second step a selection of centres were analysed in depth. The key findings are that: (1) ITI centres are most commonly established by a combination of public and private initiatives; (2) the main motive for the creation of ITI centres is to promote startups and the innovative potential; (3) most ITI centres offer space to rent and make available joint amenities; (4) ITI centres are predominantly in manufacturing, services, and development activities; their level of technology input is high or very high; and (5) the spatial reach of most of the ITI centre is on the region. Together with selected foreign experiences, some conclusions and recommendations for the operation of such centres are formulated.

Thierstein A., Lüthi S., Kruse C., Gabi S. and Glanzmann L. Changing value chain of the Swiss knowledge economy: spatial impact of intra-firm and inter-firm networks within the emerging Mega-City Region of Northern Switzerland, Regional Studies. Based on an empirical analysis of intra-firm and inter-firm connectivities, this paper focuses on the spatial behaviour of advanced producer services (APS) firms and their relevance for polycentricity in the emerging Mega-City Region of Northern Switzerland. APS firms are found to be the main drivers of the emerging Mega-City Region. Although Zurich seems to be the central node in national APS networks, it is the complementary combination of Zurich and Basel, together with some secondary centres, that raises the emerging Mega-City Region to a competitive level in the context of the global economy. Thierstein A., Lüthi S., Kruse C., Gabi S. et Glanzmann L. L'évolution de la chaîne des valeurs dans l'économie de la connaissance suisse – l'impact géographique des réseaux intra et interentreprises au sein de la naissante méga-cité-région de la Suisse du Nord, Regional Studies. A partir d'une analyse empirique de la connectivité intra et interentreprises, cet article cherche à focaliser le comportment géographique des services à la production avancés (advanced producer services, APS) et leur importance pour ce qui est du maillage polycentrique de la naissante méga-cité-région de la Suisse du Nord. Il s'avère que les entreprises APS sont les principales forces motrices de la naissante méga-cité-région. Bien que Zurich semble être le noyau central des réseaux APS nationaux, c'est le binôme Zurich–Basel, conjointement avec quelques centres secondaires, qui élèvent la naissante méga-cité-région au rang compétitif dans le cadre de l'économie mondialisée. Economie de la connaissance Chaîne des valeurs Maillage polycentrique Méga-cité-régions Analyse des réseaux Thierstein A., Lüthi S., Kruse C., Gabi S. und Glanzmann L. Die veränderte Wertschöpfungskette der Wissensökonomie in der Schweiz. Räumliche Auswirkungen von firmeninternen und firmenexternen Standortnetzen in der Metropolregion Nordschweiz, Regional Studies. Der Artikel betrachtet das räumliche Verhalten von wissensintensiven Dienstleistungsunternehmen und deren Relevanz für die polyzentrische Raumentwicklung der Metropolregion Nordschweiz. Die Resultate basieren auf einer Analyse von firmeninternen und firmenexternen Standortverflechtungen und machen deutlich, dass die wissensintensiven Dienstleistungsunternehmen die treibenden Kräfte der Metropolregion Nordschweiz sind. Zürich erweist sich zwar als zentraler Standort für internationale Netzwerke wissensintensiver Dienstleistungsunternehmen. Erst die Komplementarität von Zürich, Basel und weiteren nachrangigen Agglomerationen führt jedoch zur nötigen kritischen Masse, damit die Metropolregion Nordschweiz im internationalen Standortwettbewerb bestehen kann. Wissensökonomie Wertschöpfungskette Polyzentrität Metropolregionen Netzwerkanalyse Thierstein A., Lüthi S., Kruse C., Gabi S. y Glanzmann L. La cambiante cadena de valores de la economía suiza del conocimiento: impacto espacial de las redes intra e interempresariales en la emergente región mega-ciudad al norte de Suiza, Regional Studies. Basándonos en un análisis empírico de las conexiones intra e interempresariales, en este artículo abordamos el comportamiento espacial de los servicios avanzados al productor (SAP) y su importancia para la policentralidad en la emergente región mega-ciudad al norte de Suiza. Observamos que las empresas SAP son los principales impulsores de la emergente región mega-ciudad. Aunque Zúrich parece ser el nodo central en las redes nacionales de SAP, es la combinación complementaria de Zúrich y Basilia, junto con algunos centros secundarios, lo que eleva la emergente región mega-ciudad a un nivel competitivo en el contexto de la economía global. Economía del conocimiento Cadenas de valores Policentralidad Regiones mega-ciudad Análisis de redes

This paper is closed access until 29th March 2019.The growth of the knowledge economy has led to new forms of business networks linking cities and towns across different spatial scales. Various attempts have been made to analyse these networks empirically using the interlocking network model of the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) research network. Two approaches can be distinguished from a spatial perspective: a global ‘top-down’ approach that studies the world city network from the perspective of the largest advanced producer service firms, and a macro-regional ‘bottom-up’ approach that starts with the most important knowledge-intensive firms located within specific territorial boundaries. This paper compares and critically assesses the methodological implications and empirical outcomes of both approaches with reference to case studies of the German space economy. Both approaches pursue similar objectives: to investigate external relations of cities, both transnationally and on the national scale. Differences exist in the theoretical argumentation: the top-down approach is grounded in world city research; the bottom-up approach is anchored in debates in regional science and economic geography. In this paper, we argue for the need of scale-sensitive interpretations of connectivity patterns resulting from different approaches to the interlocking network model and conclude with some tentative recommendations for the methodological direction of future research in world city network studies

Public authorities’ declared rationale for the commission of star architects is based on the hypothesis that due to their specific capacities, buildings designed by star architects can have significant effects on the economic and social performances of their respective cities. With a conceptual impact model on hand, this paper illustrates the specific offerings of star architectural projects and the underlying hypotheses that link these offerings to intended and effective impacts. The investigation of three case studies shows that different rationales guided the development of these ‘special’ projects. The application of the impact model assists in identifying these differences.