ABSTRACT
The shift from an economy dominated by manufacturing to one focused on information industries has a range of effects. The increased flexibility of global capital in the late twentieth century has transferred manufacturing activity to cities with cheaper labour. Formerly wealthy manufacturing cities are often faced with a loss of jobs, an outflow of population and a declining tax base. There is also often a loss of collective self-esteem and business confidence. The city can become studded with abandoned sites that become both symbols of decline and opportunities for regeneration. The future of the city becomes dependent on attracting new industries, investment and jobs. The 'new economy' is driven by technology and information industries such as leisure, tourism, banking, finance and science; it is dominated by what Reich calls 'symbolic analysts': those whose job it is to manipulate numbers, words and images in the knowledge industries.2 The increased flexibility of capital investment brings a focus on capturing these flows of footloose capital for purposes of jobcreation and economic regeneration.
