CP6432 - The New Economy:  Planning for Industrial Restructuring and Sustainability

Course Description

Industrial restructuring determines where business and industry locates, how it evolves, and what kinds of jobs are needed. Industrial restructuring in the last quarter of the 20^th century accelerated as a result of the diffusion of information technologies across the spectrum of industry.  Most recently, the "New Economy" label has been given to the qualitative aspects of the transformation (such as greater international linkages, new materials and production technologies, diffusion of information technology). These qualitative aspects mean more rapid regional (local and global) change than ever before.

The predominant technologies that have (e.g., microelectronics) and will be (e.g., biotechnology, nanotechnology) driving industrial restructuring in the early 21^st century raise many economic development planning issues for the United States' and other advanced industrialized nations.  The historical relationship between the well-being of participants in the economy and its major industries appears to have fundamentally changed.  This has translated into the potential for much greater volatility in labor markets and local economies. 

In this research seminar, we will explore the evolution and possible future direction of industrial restructuring, considering what role economic development planning should play in guiding and responding to the "New Economy."  We will link our examination to broader regional planning and policy issues associated with the pattern of recent urbanization: sprawl.  Further, we will consider how the processes of industrialization and urbanization that contributed to our current unsustainable conditions can be redesigned to help meet the goals of sustainability.  

Course Objectives

• to examine the trends in the New Economy and the theoretical frameworks developed to explain industrial restructuring at the macroeconomic and regional scale

• to develop case studies of specific industrial sectors within a regional economy to deepen our understanding of the impacts of industrial restructuring and the validity of the theoretical frameworks developed to explain industrial restructuring

• to explore what form industrial restructuring could take within a framework of sustainability

• to examine specific planning and urban development tools that have been adapted for preserving urban industrial bases and decreasing sprawl

Required Texts

• Ruigrok, Winfried and Rob van Tulder, The Logic of International Restructuring, New York: Routledge, 1995.

• Harrison, Bennett, Lean and Mean (The Changing Landscape of Corporate Power), New York: Basic Books, 1997.

• Adams, Walter, and James Brock, The Structure of American Industry, 10th edition, New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., 2001

• McDonough, William and Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things,, Northpoint Press, 2002.

• Greider, William, The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003.