Conceptualizing Cluster Evolution: Beyond the Life Cycle Model?

Although the literature on the evolution of industrial clusters is not vast, a preferred approach has already become evident based around the idea of a cluster ‘life cycle’. This approach has several limitations. This paper explores a different conception of cluster evolution, drawing on the ‘adaptive cycle’ model that has been developed in evolutionary ecology. Using this model, cluster evolution is viewed as an adaptive process with different possible outcomes based on episodic interactions of nested systems. Though not without limitations, this approach offers greater scope as a framework for shaping the research agenda into the evolution of clusters.