Abstract
The chapter explores the extents to which the concept of “hub” is suitable to represent the role performed by the city of Milan in the spatial, social and economic organisation of the fashion industry. The system is territorially organised according to two main, complementary, forces: a strong local embeddedness and an equally strong internationalisation process. Through these analyses, the authors draw some reflections on the importance of the notion of hub for the urban and development policies.
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Notes
- 1.
Early in 1996, Markusen introduced the concept of hub-and-spoke in order to describe a possible local production system where one big firm, the hub (not necessarily locally embedded) is connected with other smaller firms through a series of spokes. Also in this case the term “hub” is a reference to transport hub.
- 2.
Data Source is the Milan Chamber of Commerce, 2013.
- 3.
As stated at the opening of the Milan Fashion Week in September 2013 by Boselli, President of the Italian Fashion Council.
- 4.
Such centres are very common in the Italian industrial districts, an example being, for instance, ERVET in Emilia Romagna (Best 1990).
- 5.
For instance, in the Organza project, financed under Interreg IVC EU Framework, the Centro Tessile Cotoniero in the textile industrial district of Gallarate was connected, at the European level, with three universities, three municipalities and six other research centres, with the aim of sharing knowledge on how to stimulate the creative economy locally (www.organzanetwork.eu).
- 6.
According to Amin and Thrift, “institutional thickness” should be understood as a way in which local-global interactions are locked together at the institutional level. Usually, a number of formal and informal institutions, based on local networks, public collective body and alliances, represent a large set of interests and are able to “hold down” global forces at the local level (Amin and Thrift 1995).
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d’Ovidio, M., Pacetti, V. (2019). The City as a Creative Hub: The Case of the Fashion Industry in Milan, Italy. In: Gill, R., Pratt, A.C., Virani, T.E. (eds) Creative Hubs in Question. Dynamics of Virtual Work. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10653-9_15
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