Urban geography vs company geography. An analysis of location determinants in three European cities

Abstract

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in urban areas are increasingly relevant, with a consistent impact on various territories. This research explores the re-territorialization processes, contextualized by the post-Fordism era, in urban areas. The objective of this work is to verify a hypothesis assumed at the base of the research relating to the presence of a uniformity of orientation regarding the settlement determinants of companies that are co-located in specific areas of the cities. This hypothesis is tested in relation to various industrial sectors. The availability of these survey elements constitutes a useful driver of awareness to be then translated into specific actions in urban planning in terms of policies, services and infrastructures to be dedicated to these urban spaces characterized by clusters of firms. From a methodological point of view, the followed approach is based on two aspects relating both to a cartographic comparison and both to a statistical comparison between the answers provided by the service companies of different sectors of some European cities selected for the sample survey.