Competitive Advantage for the 21st-Century City:Can a Place-Based Approach to Economic Development Survive in a Cyberspace Age?

Joseph Blanchette's image Telephone Pole and Sun on Allen Alley is a metaphor for our interconnected and technology-dependent world, and for the tangled relationships between global networks and local places. Investments in communications infrastructure support the competitiveness of communities and dramatically influence economic development alternatives. In his Longer View, Edward Blakely discusses the new communications systems and their implications for the economic future of cities and regions. Three other specialists respond with their own takes on the new technology economy. The artist, who studied for 6 years at the San Francisco Art Institute, believes that “the profound exists within the ordinary” and states that his work “solicits the awareness of the enigmatic within the ordinary moment.” This painting is currently being presented by Jernigan Wicker Fine Art Galleries of San Francisco, and other works of his can be viewed at <http://www.jwfinearts.com>, <http://www.NextMonet.com>, and <http://www.artnet.com>. Local economic development has been based on the notion that a locality can provide all of the resources to build and sustain an economic base. It is unclear in a cyberspace age whether any resources that a city controls are germane for economic development. Nonetheless, cities and states continue to invest enormous amounts of resources in the old models of attracting and retaining industry, in spite of clear evidence that this approach is no longer working. It is increasingly evident that the 21st-century economy is being shaped more by global than by local forces. This essay argues that the local economic development paradigm must be rethought, and that only communities taking a new path have a chance of success in a new global economy.