Do software and video game firms share location patterns across cities? Evidence from Barcelona, Lyon and Hamburg

摘要

The aim of this paper is to analyse common location patterns of software and video game (SVE) industry and the related agglomeration processes with other creative industries in Barcelona, Lyon and Hamburg. SVE is a key industry in developed countries and one which, due to a search for agglomeration economies, skilled labour and a range of spillover effects, is mainly located at the core of larger metropolitan areas. The cities used in our empirical application share some common features in terms of size, manufacturing tradition and, especially, economic strategies, as they have managed to promote high-tech neighbourhoods through ambitious urban renewal policies aimed at attracting the SVE industry. When analysing location patterns of firms in the industry, although our results highlight the predominant role of the urban cores of these three cities, they also indicate important specificities in terms of core-periphery distribution of SVE firms and the already mentioned urban renewal projects.