Amenity, Firm Agglomeration, and Local Creativity of Producer Services in Shanghai

Wu, Y., Wei, Y. D., Li, H., & Liu, M.

Cities · 2022

Publisher Google Scholar

Contribution

Attractiveness to firm agglomeration and attractiveness to local creativity are distinct dimensions of urban amenities. The study develops a framework connecting these dimensions to co-location, accessibility and high-density amenity clusters within Shanghai. It clarifies how the applicability of agglomeration and creativity theories differs across research objects and urban space.

Findings and approach

  • At the 1-km scale, urban amenities explain local creativity more strongly than general producer-service agglomeration.
  • Co-location, accessibility and high-density amenity clusters coexist as spatial relationships; a single distance measure cannot represent them all.
  • Amenity associations with firm agglomeration weaken farther from the CBD, while associations with creativity persist into suburban areas. The largely cross-sectional analysis does not establish causality.
Co-location, accessibility and amenity clusters coexist as spatial relationships. A qualitative CBD-to-suburb comparison contrasts amenity associations that weaken for firm agglomeration with those that persist for creativity. The lines are not estimated effect curves or mapped flows.
Conceptual illustration, not an empirical map or statistical plot.