Reexamination of Jane Jacobs’ Theoretical Insights into Economies of Cities and Regions from the Viewpoint of Social Economic Geography

<p>    The purpose of this paper is to reexamine Jane Jacobs' theoretical insights into economies of cities and regions from the viewpoint of social economic geography. The present author compares the logic of Jacobs (1969) with that of Jacobs (1984). In both her books, Jacobs attaches importance to import replacement and to the transformation of goods and services for local needs into an export base. Therefore, her logic coincides with the theory of regional economic growth that was developed by Douglass North (1955). <BR>    Jacobs' unique concept of “improvisation,” which is a prerequisite for import replacement, means incremental innovation. Furthermore, new goods and services for local needs must be transformed into new exportable ones for the further development of a city and city region resulting from innovative activities by the local people and enterprises as well. This process generates either new work within a city and city region or new imported goods that are the basis for the next import replacement. <BR>    These continuous processes create economic diversity in a city and city region. While Jacobs (1969) contrasts the city economy with the rural one, Jacobs (1984) thinks that the national economy depends on networks of city regions, which consist of a large city and its vicinity, including small and medium-sized cities and villages. Therefore, a city region means a metropolitan area. <BR>    Jacobs' theoretical insights into economies of cities and city regions are important for considering the development of regional economies. She often exemplifies her logic using cities and city regions in Japan. However, her understanding of Japan is not accurate because there are import replacing SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) in rural areas in Kyushu, a peripheral area in Japan. Some of them have become hidden champions or their equivalent, transforming their products into exportable goods and occupying a high share in a niche market either in Japan or in East Asian countries, or sometimes even in the world. Furthermore, a metropolitan area with vitality has emerged in Kyushu as well. <BR>    However, rural areas with import replacing SMEs in Kyushu have suffered from an exodus of young people and economic and social decline since the 1950s. To revitalize peripheral areas, it is necessary to create regions, each of which can perform Daseinsgrundfunktionen, or the basic functions of everyday life in the meaning of German social geography. We should realize that it is not necessary for a region to be as large as a metropolitan area in order to have vitality, as exemplified in the cases of Emsland in Germany, Vorarlberg in Austria and other small rural regions in middle Europe.</p>