Silicon Roundabout vs. Tech City
Max Nathan and Georgina Voss
LSE | Brighton University
CityDiplo, 22 January 2013
This work includes analysis based on data from BSD, produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and supplied by the Secure Data Service at the
UK Data Archive. The data is Crown copyright and reproduced with the permission of the controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland. The use of
the ONS statistical data in this work does not imply the endorsement of the ONS or the Secure Data Service at the UK Data Archive in relation to the
interpretation or analysis of the data. This work uses research datasets that may not exactly reproduce National Statistics aggregates. All the outputs have
been granted final clearance by the staff of the SDS-UKDA.
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Q: What should a city be like?
Jane Jacobs: It should be like itself.
(interview with Reason magazine, 2001)
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Starting points
What is ‘Tech City’? How has branding changed perceptions?
What or who is driving change in the area?
How have existing communities responded to re-branding?
Is the government's recently announced £50m investment in a
creative incubator at 'Silicon Roundabout' a good thing?
Will government 'planning' change the character of the area? Is
Shoreditch/Hackney as we know it over?
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IEL map
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IEL map
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Firm counts / trend
Source: Business Structure Database 2011
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I like the fact that you bump into interesting people … that
you might sort of read something that someone’s
written online and then meet them down at the pub.
Which is nice … when I worked in South Kensington that
never happened.
I don’t want to move anywhere else. I wouldn’t ever
dream of going to Soho. I would probably go kicking and
screaming to Clerkenwell.
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What is ‘Tech City’?
Why do we care?
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Tech City’s great. I think all of this helps to push the
ecosystem generally, because it gets into people’s minds …
It’s creating a lot of similar-minded people in the area as well,
and all of those people can feed off each other and the
different ideas, the sense of community, can really make
each of their businesses better.
Tech City is what government people call it. I don’t think I’ve
heard anyone call it Tech City without sort of air quotes.
My personal perception of Tech City is very much a government
jumping on the bandwagon, and sticking a label on it.
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What might happen next?
• Signalling effect => area profile rises. Probably good for
everyone, although may trigger more competition *
• Clustering effect => knowledge spillovers. Good for firms
• Competition effect => more firms enter. Good for
consumers, bad for some (weaker?) firms and their workers
• Property market effect => the area gets more expensive.
Good for landlords and property industry, bad for some
(smaller) firms.
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iCity and the Olympic Park
• iCITY image
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Final thoughts
• Silicon Roundabout developed organically. There are real
limits to what policymakers can do
• Big risk = property market effects, chaotic urban reshaping
• Roles of planning =
supportive local frameworks
subsidise and effectively manage affordable workspace
public assets (including buildings like Google Campus)
local amenities and the night-time economy
• The area will keep evolving. Need to refresh policy regularly
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Thanks!
bit.ly/ataleoftechcity
maxnathan.com
m.a.nathan@lse.ac.uk
@iammaxnathan
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