Capturing environmental innovation through industrial cluster programs in the United States

Abstract

In number of formerly industrial urban centers in the Midwest, networks of private and public stakeholders are working to cultivate clusters of water-related technology innovation. Advocates of these cluster-based strategies strive to increase local and regional competitiveness by building links among relevant companies and local institutions, while also upgrading the conditions of the business environment that raise productivity and innovation. This study examines the trajectory of two water technology cluster initiatives from their initiation in the mid-to-late 2000s to the present: The Water Council, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Confluence, based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Despite the central importance of geographic concentration and infrastructure inputs to the economic rationale behind clustering, processes of spatial planning and urban development have generally received limited attention in the study of cluster programs. In these two cases, I trace how abstract visions of cluster dynamics were translated into interventions through the planning and regulatory mechanisms-and their associated politics-governing the built environment in each location. Using interviews and qualitative analysis of planning and administrative documents, I find that each cluster development program evolved in relation to the land and infrastructure assets accessible to key institutional partners. In Milwaukee, the process of identifying cluster priorities among levels of state and regional institutions produced a regionally driven initiative closely tied to redevelopment powers at the level of the City of Milwaukee. The result was that the cluster program developed toward an eco-industrial park and innovation district model that supported quality of life and attraction goals for both city and industry leaders. In Cincinnati, water innovation efforts were not translated into land redevelopment planning yet ultimately found a niche in the needs of regional utilities. The resulting strategy and set of spatial interventions evolved toward a network of test beds and sites along water bodies impacted by contamination, a geography corresponding to the assets of regional utilities and environmental resource management entities.