• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.167-180
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• 2006

The Ruhr region used to be a large industrial area, working as an engine of economic growth of the Germany. However, the region has been suffering from economic and social problems originating from de-industrialization. Since the 1970s, various levels of governments have attempted to solve the problems with policies of regional innovation, e.g., establishing technology parks, competence centers, and business incubators to promote start-ups, technology transfers, and networks between governments, businesses, universities, public research institutes, and the public. In this context, this paper attempts to analyse governance of regional innovation policies of the Ruhr area, based on an analytical framework developed by a groups of researchers, i.e.. Bae et al (2006), The paper concludes that the roles of governments are important in creating and implementing regional innovation policies of the Ruhr area, the policies heavily rely on the R&D capacity of local universities and public research institutes; and various levels of governments have different roles to play.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.60-75
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• 2015

The Ruhr area in the Northwestern Germany grew rapidly from the 1850s based on coal mining and iron and steel industries, playing a key role as an engine of industrial growth. Since the 1950s, however, the area has been experiencing a serious economic crisis as the traditional industries declined. The crisis was comprised of increasing unemployment and abandoned industrial lands and facilities. Oberhausen and Gelsenkirhen are typical cities of the Ruhr, characterized by such economic crisis. Oberhausen attempted to solve the problems by developing a large leisure town, composed of a sopping mall, restaurants, and other arts and cultural activities, on a former steel mill site. Gelsenkirhen, on the other hand, went on to promote renewable energy industries, business incubators, and energy-saving housing complexes. This paper analyses the processes and outcomes of urban revitalization policies of the two cities, based on the path dependence theory, and draws theoretical and policy implications.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.200-213
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• 2014

During the 1970s and 1980s, most of the industrial cities of the Western World went through serious de-industrialization process. While the economy of the cities declined, the cities were suffering from the lack of job opportunities, under-use of industrial infrastructure, and environmental degradation. Many of the cities attempted to tackle such problems, but very few of them have succeeded. However, the Ruhr area is showing some promising signs. This paper attempts to analyze regional revitalization policies of Dortmund, a central city of the Ruhr, and looks into the processes and outcomes of the policies. The author argues Dortmund has successfully created and set forth a new industrial path based on high-tech industries, such as information technology, micro-electromechanical systems(MEMS), logistics, and biomedical industries, away from its traditional industries, such as coal mining and steel making. Speaking from the perspective of path theory, he continues to argue that Dortmund has successfully 'locked-out' from the traditional industries, in contrast to the Grabher's argument.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.409-424
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• 2018

Since the 1950s, many of the traditional industrial cities of advanced economies in Europe and North America were affected by a series of de-industrialization. The de-industrialization process, characterized by company shut-downs and massive lay-offs, has resulted in high unemployment rates and massive redundancies in physical infrastructure. Since the 1980s, many of the old industrial cities have attempted to overcome such problems. However, it has been found that not many of the cities are found to be successful. The City of Dortmund, one of the core cities of the large German industrial conurbation of the past, the Ruhr, is found to be an exceptional case demonstrating a clear success in overcoming deindustrialization problems. The City in fact strategically pursued transforming backbone of its economy from steel-making, coal-mining and beer-brewery to high-technology and future-oriented industries, based on microsystems, biomedical, electronic logistics and information technology. This paper attempts to analyse the processes and outcomes of transforming Dortmund beginning from the 1980s to articulate the roles of the agencies contributing to the success.