The Re-Birth of the Company Town: How Corporations Are Reshaping Life, Work and Play in the City
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
4Cities Erasmus Mundus Master Course in Urban Studies STRAUS Matevž & ZAMFIRA Răzvan 2016 THE RE-BIRTH OF THE COMPANY TOWN: HOW CORPORATIONS ARE RESHAPING LIFE, WORK AND PLAY IN THE CITY WALTER MATZNETTER 1st of September 2016 Erklärung Hiermit versicheren wir, • dass wir die vorliegende Masterarbeit selbstständig verfasst, andere als die angegebenen Quellen und Hilfsmittel nicht benutzt und uns auch sonst keiner unerlaubter Hilfe bedient haben, • dass wir dieses Masterarbeitsthema bisher weder im In- noch im Ausland in irgendeiner Form als Prüfungsarbeit vorgelegt haben, • und dass diese Arbeit mit der vom Begutachter eurteilten Arbeit vollständig übereinstimmt. Wien, 25 August 2016 Matevž Straus und Razvan Zamfira ABSTRACT The Re-birth of the Company Town: How Corporations are Reshaping Work, Life, and Play in the City Matevž STRAUS and Razvan ZAMFIRA Company towns of the 19th Century, established to explore new unexplored and unexploited territories and deal with social problems stemming from large cities, have been normalised or demolished with the advent of the welfare state. Nevertheless, changes over the last decades have radically altered the conditions of contemporary urbanism and in many ways paved the way for the new political, social, economic and technological organisation of our cities. Gaps in urban governance have given large companies the opportunity to fill them with their own interests, while the retrenchment of welfare state provisions and the liberalisation and deregulation of the economy have left the provision of social and public services to de- or less- regulated free markets. At the same time the rise of prosumerism is forcing companies to enable co-creation of their products/services, thus opening up the office and the factory. Several companies are already responding to market failures with their own engagement and the provision of certain services to their employees and their families, while positive externalities of the urban environment, surrounding large employers, have provided untapped potential for increased innovation. All these changes are resulting in the emergence of contemporary company towns, a model of redefined relationships between society and businesses, in which the socially-aware and innovation-driven company plays the major role in urban life and urban development. Based on a hypothesis-generating case study method of 12 different contemporary company towns, this master thesis defines contemporary company towns with four deeply connected and overlapping elements: contemporary company town as an innovation milieu; contemporary company town as a labour force organiser; contemporary company town as a symbolic node; and contemporary company town as a political institution. Master thesis end with several suggestions for further research of this topic that challenges predominant contemporary theories in urban geography, urban economics, urban sociology, political science and urbanism. Matevž Straus Idrija, Slovenia www.matevzstraus.si EDUCATION: 2014 - ... Master in Urban Studies - 4Cities Vrije Universiteit Brussel / Universite Libre de Bruxelles / Universität Wien / Kobenhavns Universitet / Universidad Autonoma de Madrid / Universidad Complutense Madrid, Brussels / Vienna / Copenhagen / Madrid 2011 – 2014 Master in Strategic Market Communication University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences, Ljubljana 2007 – 2011 Analitical Sociology University of Ljubljana - Faculty of Social Sciences, Ljubljana (with exchange semester in Umea, Sweden) WORK EXPERIENCE: 2016 - … Sustainable Development Consultant at Idrija-Cerkno Development Agency 2012 - … President at Idrija 2020 Association 2011 – 2014 Corporate Magazines Editor at PM, Poslovni mediji, Ljubljana 2010 – 2012 Executive Board Member at Zveza ŠKIS Association Răzvan Zamfira Bucharest, Romania www.razvanzamfira.ro EDUCATION: 2014 - ... Master in Urban Studies - 4Cities Vrije Universiteit Brussel / Universite Libre de Bruxelles / Universität Wien / Kobenhavns Universitet / Universidad Autonoma de Madrid / Universidad Complutense Madrid, Brussels / Vienna / Copenhagen / Madrid 2011 – 2013 Master in Architecture and Urban Planning »Ion Mincu« University of Architecture and Urban Planning, Bucharest 2007 – 2011 Bachelor in Architecture »Ion Mincu« University of Architecture and Urban Planning, Bucharest WORK EXPERIENCE: 2013 - … Vice- President at Poiana lui Iocan Association 2012 – 2013 Junior Researcher at Romanian Green Building Council CONTENT 4 LET’S TALK ABOUT SHOES 8 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 10 METHODOLOGY 14 THE (FIRST) BIRTH OF THE COMPANY TOWN 24 TECHNOLOGICAL, SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL (TSEP) CHANGES IN THE 20TH CENTURY 26 TECHNOLOGICAL: From Fordism to post-Fordism and innovation-driven economy 34 SOCIAL: From Keynesian welfare state to Schumpeterian workfare state and corporate citizenship 42 ECONOMIC: From industrial logic to creative man’s logic and prosumerism 50 POLITICAL: From state government to urban governance regimes and company-led governance 58 ANALYSIS: CASE STUDIES OF CONTEMPORARY COMPANY TOWNS 64 Billund, Denmark 78 Las Vegas, USA 88 Wolfsburg, Germany 98 COMPARING HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY COMPANY TOWNS 100 CONTEXT: Small and peripheral 102 TECHNOLOGICAL: Diversifed portfolio of non-primary activities 104 SOCIAL: Ensuring suffcient supply of labour through involvement in provision of social services 106 ECONOMIC: Overlap of city’s and company’s brand 108 POLITICAL: Long-term holistic pro-growth partnerships 112 THE MODEL OF CONTEMPORARY COMPANY TOWN 114 Contemporary company town as an innovation milieu 118 Contemporary company town as a labour force organiser 122 Contemporary company town as a symbolic node 126 Contemporary company town as a political institution 130 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 136 TO BE CONTINUED… 140 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 164 PHOTO CREDITS 168 ANNEXE 1 - CASE STUDIES 170 Älmhult, Sweden 180 Basel, Switzerland 192 Beaverton, USA 202 Bentonville, USA 212 Eindhoven, The Netherlands 222 Herzogenaurach, Germany 232 Jamshedpur, India 242 Suwon, South Korea 252 Treviso, Italy 262 ANNEXE BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 276 ANNEXE PHOTO CREDITS 4 LET’S TALK ABOUT SHOES From protecting our feet to today’s endless number of personalized customizations, shoes have gone a long way and the same can be said about shoe companies and their corporate landscapes. A shoe might be an item intended to protect and comfort our feet while doing various activities, but as all items of clothing it is also a status symbol that can at a glance describe you as a person. As the saying goes, you are what you wear - but what can shoes tell us about the evolving nature of the corporations behind their production? As an introduction, we invite you on an enlightening short walk through the history of shoe making in the 21st and the shifting nature of contemporary corporate landscapes behinds their production. 5 n the 1930s, inspired by Fordist theories, garden city principles and socialist ideals, the Czech Ishoe company Bata went on a mission to “shoe the world”. To do so, it built 55 company towns all around the world, all structured around “The Bata System”. It was a centralized vertical system of control aimed at the entire production from the processing of raw materials to selling the fnished product, covering not only the production of shoes, but also social welfare, architecture, urban planning, communication and social behaviour. Bata meant not the production of shoes but a way of standardized life. All aspects of the Bata life had to be proftable, that way the system was self-sustaining. Bata shops selling Bata shoes; grocery stores selling products from Bata farms; cinemas and theatres for workers to enjoy their evenings and weekends; sport facilities for workers to spend their weekends at and to participate in events; schools for children to study and be formed as Bata young men and women. This meant that the money paid to the workers always returned to the company while the workers themselves barely had the necessity to leave the premises of the factory, being on call 24/7. By fulflling all needs of the locally recruited workers the company created fdelity. By controlling all the production facilities it created proft. The architecture of the Bata System in Zlin While the Bata System was a worldwide network of factory towns, Niketowns are not towns per se but a concept store chain. Established in 1971, Nike Inc. exemplifes the shift to post- Fordism in terms of its organizational culture and fexible specialization. These arrangements increase pluralism and fragmentation, making its corporate geographies harder to defne. Nike is everywhere and nowhere at the same time. While its headquarters remain fxed in Beaverton, Oregon, shoe production takes place under several subcontracting arrangements that allow the company a higher degree of fexibility in dynamic and fuid markets. Thus, Nike no longer owns the means of production or its shops but relies on subcontracting and franchising in order to produce and sell their products. Moreover, Nike products themselves become abstract “cultural signs” that reinforce a belief in a potential to get things done, to accomplish athletic achievements and “Just Do It” rather than buying the shoe itself. This new relationship with the product allows Nike to better adapt to the changes on the market but also to expand its line of products in new ways by promoting new types of experiences associated with sports and healthier lifestyles. NikeTown in Manhattan, New York City Our