Modeling sustainable agglomeration based on the self-organization of industry clusters

Main method

For a better understanding of the spatial form and nature of local business concentration, it is necessary to classify cluster structures. In the classification shown in Fig. 1, Markusen [3] highlighted the different roles that different groups of cluster members play, as well as how different players interact with each other. The relationships depicted in this diagram represent regular intercompany business transactions, such as transactions between a supplier and a customer. There are other classifications proposed by modern researchers, for example Lorenzoni [4], but other models are not as complete and clear as Marcusen's model when it comes to fixing the structures of real clusters.

Examining the economic causes and consequences of clustering firms and households in regions, cities and commercial areas, many economists such as Yorgos Papageorgiou, Masahisa Fujita, Paul R Krugman, Anthony Venables [5-6] have come to the conclusion that it would be useless look for a universal model that would explain the different types of economic agglomerations at different “geographic scales” and “degrees of sectoral detail” that would describe the spatial form and nature of local business concentration.

At the same time, trying to uncover the main economic reasons for the existence of peaks and troughs in the spatial distribution of population and wealth, many economists have created comprehensive models for various scales of clusters in alternative market structures.

To identify spatial clusters in economics, two main types of methods are used (Figure 2.): quantitative identification methods and qualitative methods using intuitive identification.

Main results

Understanding the fundamental reasons, features of the emergence and development of clusters allows the authors of the article to explore regional territories and evaluate them from the standpoint of the formation of industrial clusters (Figures 3 and 4).

The current research is carried out on the example of the Kaliningrad region. The authors chose this region for a reason, since the region is an exclave territory of the Russian Federation and its special geopolitical position leaves a significant imprint on the possibilities for its economic, scientific, technical and technological development (Figure 5 and 6).

Main conclusion

This study represents a very long-awaited synthesis of contributions to the new economic geography, from the point of view of the development of a sustainable agglomeration based on the self-organization of industry clusters, the modeling experience of which has been accumulated in the last decade. This document is an addition to the literature on understanding the importance of the process of self-organization of industry clusters from the point of view of its fundamental causes, peculiarities of emergence, formation and development for the sustainability of the agglomeration. Analyzing the best practices, this work identified and prioritized the main directions of the sectoral development of the Kaliningrad region, and also proposed a conceptual model of its growth driver. The data obtained in the work give an idea of the improvement in the possibilities of researching the economic causes and consequences of clustering of firms and households in regions, cities and commercial areas from the point of view of the process of self-organization of economic clusters in industries. The presented study allows you to better study the nature of centrifugal and centripetal forces located inside the black box called "external effects", and the study of the region under study, from the point of view of a "living laboratory", allows you to form a solid foundation for further understanding the spatial structure of the economy.

References

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3. Markusen, A. (1996). Sticky Places in Slippery Space: A Typology of Industrial Districts. Economic Geography, 72(3), 293–313. https://doi.org/10.2307/144402
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6. Fujita M and Thisse J-F 2002 Economics of Agglomeration: Cities, Industrial Location, and Regional Growth (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
7. Fujita M, Krugman P R and Venables A 1999 The spatial economy: Cities, regions, and international trade (MIT press)