Decline of the District, Renewal of Firms: An Evolutionary Approach to Footwear Production in the Pirmasens Area, Germany

Abstract

Among the variety of old industrial areas, districts involved in the production of light consumer goods are a special case. Taking the single still-surviving footwear-production district in Germany as an example, the author makes an attempt to reflect on the long-term decline of an industrial district and the resulting path dependency of regional development. An evolutionary approach is taken which starts from different institutional bases and reveals a complex mix of temporalities and spatialities in the development path of enterprises and the region. The major empirical findings contrast two dominant types of strategic response to decline: firms either stayed in the industry, but left the region; or stayed in the region, but left the industry. The author concludes by mapping implications for territorial development.