Location in a Globalised World

Course goals

• Understand the evolution of location theories within economic geography and apply these theories (essential skill: processing information);
• Manage, weigh and apply variables to a location problem (essential skill: collecting and interpreting information);
• Develop proficiency in solving information problems for enterprises in the location choice process (essential skill: collecting and processing information);
• Link the spatial organisational structure of companies to location factors (essential skill: collecting and interpreting information);
• Report: both orally and in writing on the working method followed in the location decision process (essential skill: effective communication).

Content

Many economic and social issues have a spatial component. Why are houses and rooms so expensive in Utrecht? Which regions offer the best investment climate for high-tech companies? What determines the rentable value of a shop premises in the centre of a city? What are the causes and implications of the spatial clustering of economic activity? Why do HQ’s all like to locate in New York and London?

Economic geography describes and explains the inherently spatial nature of economic activities, including the production and consumption of goods and services. As a discipline, economic geography studies the relation between space and economic phenomena, addressing questions ranging from the reason concentration of high-tech firms in the Silicon Valley, the importance of network-mediated knowledge for firms’ productivity to the obstacles and development trajectories of regions in Europe. Research in economic geography mostly relies on econometrics and quantitative methods.

This course offers students an overview of different approaches in location theories, one of the building blocks of economic geography. As such, the course serves as a stepping stone to the more in-depth studies in the second and third years of the bachelor programme. The course has a study load of 7.5 ECTS (=210 hours).