La crisis actual está generando graves problemas y poniendo en cuestión los fundamentos del modelo de crecimiento económico neocapitalista. No puede extrañar, por consiguiente, que tanto los investigadores como los responsables públicos intenten encontrar la forma más adecuada de evolucionar hacia la configuración de nuevos modelos de funcionamiento socioeconómico y territorial. Buena parte de la atención se ha centrado en la economía del conocimiento, entendiendo que puede contribuir al desarrollo de las sociedades y territorios. El objetivo de este artículo es analizar las políticas públicas implementadas durante los últimos años en la aglomeración metropolitana de Sevilla para impulsar el desarrollo de la economía del conocimiento, así como para ordenarla territorialmente.ABSTRACT:The current crisis is generating serious economic, labor, social, territorial and political problems. It is a deep structural crisis that is challenging the foundations of neo-capitalist economic growth model.
The aim of this paper is to analyze the recent public policy to promote the development of knowledge economy in the Metropolitan Agglomeration of Seville, the largest in the region. We analyze the one hand, policies to promote the growth of the knowledge economy and, secondly, spatial planning policies of the industries related to the knowledge economy.
The sources used in this research are very different. On the one hand, viewed documents coming from different institutions and agencies involved in the formulation and implementation of policies with an impact on the knowledge economy of the area under study. Moreover, we have used the territorial statistical information more common in analysis of the knowledge economy. To complement that information was generated other qualitative, from the derived from twenty semi-structured interviews with institutions and organizations active in the metropolitan area, which took place during 2011; this information has deepened in the knowledge of policies and strategies implemented.
The article is divided into six sections. The first is an introduction, followed by a second section focused on territorial and socio-economic characterization of metropolitan agglomeration of Seville and the analysis of the presence of the knowledge economy. The third item is dedicated to public policies promoting the knowledge economy. The fourth section analyzes the policies implemented in the specific sectors that are considered strategic by some of the authorities with responsibilities in the study area. Meanwhile, in the fifth item examines the spatial planning policies that are directly linked with integrated industries in the knowledge economy. Finally, some conclusions are collected. In the metropolitan agglomeration of Seville concentrates most of the economic activities of Andalusia and, in particular, those linked to the knowledge economy (22.52% of enterprises and 29.23% of workers linked to the economy knowledge of the
region), however, the weight of these industries in this area is lower than the largest Spanish metropolitan areas. The trend towards concentration of the sectors that make up the knowledge economy also observes within the agglomeration in favor of the main city and the municipalities with the largest population and socio-economic dynamism.
If,
as has been stated, the policies related to the knowledge economy have gained
an increasing interest in recent decades, become even more important in those
geographical areas whose economic structural problems hinder the generation of
wealth and employment, which puts in demonstrates the importance of these
policies in the metropolitan agglomeration of Seville.
To analyze these policies, it is necessary to differentiate between policy for economic growth and spatial planning, for while the former are intended to promote the growth of certain industries, second, aimed at minimizing the negative spatial effects generated by such growth. In this sense, analyzing the policies implemented in the study area in question, it can be seen that:
· Policies promoting the knowledge economy have been implemented by organizations and institutions from different administrative levels, gaining special relevance in the years before the crisis. Nevertheless, the emergence of the crisis has truncated the growth coming to support these sectors and has reduced the attention of current economic policies to promote the knowledge economy. Consequently, the basis on which sits the economic development model of the metropolitan agglomeration of Seville are unchanged, so that it remains, above all, linked to the supply of services, typical of an urban area of more than a million and a half people that also hosts the regional and provincial capital.
· Spatial planning related to knowledge-based industries, there appears to be contributing to overcome the model based on extensive soil consumption in recent years, and may even have served as an excuse to favor some covert urban developments.
It is important to note that most of the actions to promote the knowledge economy are concentrated in the city of Sevilla, and in Dos Hermanas, Alcalá de Guadaíra and Mairena del Alcor. Also highlight those in La Rinconada and Sanlúcar la Mayor, where are pursuing sectoral projects and innovative marking of such magnitude that transcend the metropolitan area, as in the case of the location of an aeronautical cluster in La Rinconada and Solar platform in Sanlúcar la Mayor, which is still a landmark worldwide. But it is in the city of Seville where he has developed a greater number of strategies to increase the creative industries and services sectors, which tend to be highly influenced by urbanization economies and the cultural event whose importance goes beyond the metropolitan.
As for spatial planning related to the knowledge economy stands creating spaces designed expressly to accommodate such activities. In this regard, while the Science and Technology Park of Cartuja is already filled and the Andalusian Aerospace Technology Park has reached a good level of occupancy, other projects are questionable, especially when taking into account the current economic recession. Do not forget also that in many cases is projected this type of infrastructure, responding only to certain claims and municipal aspirations, which are not based on previous analyzes of territorial trends in the entire metropolitan area.
Furthermore, the Spatial Plan of the Urban Agglomeration of Seville emphasized the need to modernize the metropolitan economy, promoting growth of
industries linked to knowledge and innovation, without forgetting that it is important to be distributed evenly across the territory. Thus, among the incorporated areas of opportunity to this document, including those classified as technological, seeking to develop and attract knowledge-based industries and distribute evenly through the metropolitan area.
In short, as has been pointed out, much of public policies to promote the development of knowledge economy in the metropolitan agglomeration of Seville does not seem to have achieved sufficiently energize. Among the reasons that may explain this circumstance can be highlighted: the own economic downturn resulting from the crisis, the austerity policies that have reduced public budgets considerably in R+D, basic for the generation, transfer and adoption of knowledge, the rise of the value-added tax in the cultural and creative sector, as well as reducing state aid to these sectors.
Regarding the spatial planning proposals there are some contradictions that challenge their potential contribution to territorial development. For one, called attention to the large number of areas of opportunity that are planned and the wide area occupied, thus failing to fulfill criteria established urban growth limitation in the Spatial Plan of Andalusia, which is the document that sets out guidelines for the whole region. On the other, although it emphasizes the need to plan actions at supralocal, each of the areas of technological opportunity are located in a single municipality.
But the important thing is to design public policies that can lead to a change in the economic model and territorial processes that can generate integrated development, which, in addition to boost economic competitiveness is consistent with the new culture of the territory called (Manifiesto por una nueva cultura del territorio, 2006).
At this point, it should be noted, finally, that, in a crisis like the current rapidly changing, lack temporal perspective can draw only tentative conclusions, we add the difficulty of assessing in times of crisis the possible effects of a public policies that have been designed on a bullish economic phase. Furthermore, it should be noted that there is still no information available about the knowledge economy sufficiently disaggregated sectorial and territorially. Classification-JEL: R1 Keywords: Políticas de promoción económica, Políticas de ordenación territorial, Economía del conocimiento, Aglomeración metropolitana de Sevilla, Policy of Economic Growth, Spatial Planning, Knowledge Economy, Metropolitan Agglomeration of Seville Pages: 77-103 Volume: 03 Year: 2013 File-URL: http://www.revistaestudiosregionales.com/documentos/articulos/pdf-articulo-2422.pdf File-Format: Application/pdf Handle: RePEc:rer:articu:v:03:y:2013:p:77-103