A Handbook of Industrial Districts

Edited by the late Giacomo Becattini, formerly Professor of Political Economy, Marco Bellandi, Professor of Applied Economics, University of Florence, Italy and Lisa De Propris, Senior Lecturer, Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, UK

In this comprehensive original reference work, the editors have brought together an unrivalled group of distinguished scholars and practitioners to comment on the historical and contemporary role of industrial districts (IDs).

‘Anyone interested in the study of industrial districts will find something of value in this book.’
– Joshua Hall, The Review of Regional Studies

‘This impressive work, divided into four parts and composed of no fewer than 53 contributions, proposes to look back at and reflect on the writings of Giacomo Becattini and his Florentine school, with the objective of assessing his work in the light of the debate it has fuelled.’
– Giulia Bianchi, History of Economic Ideas

‘By providing a comprehensive story of industrial districts, the authors have provided a text that meets the needs of their intended audience. Given the diversity of writing, the academic, planner, policy maker, enterprise manager, and entrepreneur can all use this book as a reference to help them understand best practice principles and to learn from a diverse range of case studies and empirical evidence. The book would add value to postgraduate reading lists, particularly as many of the case studies could be easily developed into challenging and purposeful assessments.’
– Simon Stephens, Growth and Change

‘This book offers an excellent contribution and should be procured by every library with interest in this field. As the book includes very valuable conceptual, critical and forward looking contributions, it will be a very valuable source for academics, students and policy-makers with an interest in agglomeration economics at large.’
– Sören Eriksson, Papers in Regional Science

‘A Handbook of Industrial Districts is a very well-organized and structured collection of scientific works on the theory of industrial districts.’
– Roberta Capello, Regional Studies