Framing of small / medium-sized cities in the world city network The case of airport cities

Master thesis - European Urban Cultures Jeroen Van Looy 2010/2011

Supervision Prof. dr. ir. J.T. Mommaas & Nienke van Boom MSc MA Second reader Prof. dr. Panu Lethovuori

Keywords: World city network, small and medium-sized cities, airports, urban economic development, framing of cities

Preface
What a great opportunity I had; travelling around Europe, exploring and studying for almost a year. Im very grateful to all the people who made it possible. A special thank you goes to Els, for letting me finding my own way, time and again. It means a lot to me. Thanks to all my fellow students from Polis and 4 Cities for all the fun times. It was a great experience and I feel blessed knowing you all. For all their time, knowledge, experience and for all the effort they put into the program; Id like to thank the teaching and supporting staff of Polis. And finally, I wish to thank everyone who helped me writing this thesis. The interviewees for sharing their insights, fellow students and teaching staff for their helpful comments during discussions; thank you!

Summary
Cities play an important role in our contemporary world, in which in a wave of globalization the global overtook the nation-state as arena for economic interaction. World city theorists argue that cities function as nodes in a global economic network which is driven by technological revolution and is organized around information technologies. But whereas more than half of the world urban population lives in cities with fewer than 500 000 inhabitants, small cities are far less subject of discussion. While world cities have a strategic role in the global economic complex, their functions as preferred production sites, especially for producer services, are not uniquely linked to major global cities. They also extend to lower geographic scales. Cities cater to global, national, sub-national and regional markets and as a result cities on the smaller geographic scales of both trans- and sub-national regions fulfill equivalent functions to those of world cities. As such they are part of the world city network. Within this network, small and medium-sized cities too try to consolidate themselves as centers of economic, cultural and political attraction for a wider region. While the real competition in the world city network takes place between firms, this city competition manifests itself in the attraction of firms to the cities. Dense patterns of interaction between people, goods and information define world cities as commanding nodes. They give expression to the strong relation between cities and transport. World cities are connected by transport networks and services that provide linkages to other cities. Nowadays, air transport is the preferred mode for travelling between cities. Air traffic, and consequently airports, is seen as a crucial element of the world network. As a result, air links can be regarded as a component indicating a citys aspiration to world city status. With infrastructure considered to be a crucial factor of growth and development, the increasing importance of air transport in connecting territories is what makes airports in particular so strategically important. Not only do they function as transport nodes, airports also are important factors in the regional economy as they provide employment and generate income, both in a temporary and a long standing term. References to airports as growth poles for regional economies are widely taken over by popular press and local economic development agents. The success of the use of airports as tool for economic development differs however from one city to another, as, amongst other elements, size and functions of the city seem to affect air traffic. The role of airports in the framing of small and medium-sized cities in the world city network is the central topic of this thesis. Defining framing as the positioning of a unit into a wider

network, framing a city reflects the idea that besides pure geographic orientation by way of altitudes and latitudes, a city also has a relative location which is function of its various economic and infrastructural - relations with other units in the wider network. Based on findings from literature it can be argued that small to medium-sized cities which situate an airport are more tightly connected to other cities and are more tightly knitted into the global network then cities which do not situate an airport. Economic activity and infrastructure, expressed as connectivity, are the factors on which these relations between world cities and other relevant settlements in the world city network materialize. As a result, they are the main subjects of the approach used in this thesis to address the framing of small to medium-sized cities in the world city network. On the basis of a qualitative analysis using desktop research, expert interviews and the technique of cognitive mapping, this thesis takes a closer look at the connectivity and the economic activities of the airport city of Memmingen, home to the Allgu Airport Memmingen and the non-airport city of Kempten, both located in the same area in Bavaria, Germany. The analysis shows that the regional network of Kempten and Memmingen is composed out of three dimensions, each with their own distinctive characteristics in terms of distance, travel modes and traffic infrastructure. The local dimension coincides largely with the Allgu region and local highways, roads and railways form the infrastructural backbone. The meso dimension, which is defined by the metropolitan areas of the world cities of Munich, Stuttgart and Zurich, is structured around the infrastructural backbone consisting of highways and (ICE) railways. Finally, the macro dimension encompasses the far-away regions, countries and world cities which are economically related to the cities of Kempten and Memmingen. The infrastructural backbone of the macro dimension is dominated by air traffic. This regional network and its characteristics reflect the geographic and economic framing of these cities in their wider surroundings. The connectivity and the centrality of Kempten and Memmingen within the regional network change over the different dimensions. As a unit within the local and the local-meso dimension of the regional network, there is no big difference between Kempten and Memmingen in terms of centrality. The more one goes outwards to the macro dimension however, the role of Memmingen in connecting the local dimension with the meso and the macro dimensions increases. An important factor explaining the growing difference in centrality is the Allgu Airport Memmingen which functions as an infrastructural node connecting the local and the meso levels to the macro dimension of the regional network. Centrality calculations for the entire

regional network show that without air connections the centrality of both Kempten and Memmingen significantly declines, illustrating the function of the airport in the regional framing. However, being an airport city does not necessarily mean that economic activities related to the world city network such as service provision are dominant. Instead, the main economic impact of the Allgu Airport Memmingen is situated in tourism and in its role in the internationalization of companies. To be clear, the young history of the Allgu Airport Memmingen makes any conclusion regarding a relation between the presence of specialized services in the city of Memmingen and the presence of the regional airport difficult. Other factors such as the citys location on the junction of several important traffic axes influence the economic orientation of Memmingen. It is also one of the reasons for the exploitation of this airport. World cities as well influence the framing of small cities. Functioning as a connecting node between the different dimensions of the regional network, as a marketing tool for the promotion of the Allgu Airport Memmingen and consequently of the local cities and as a competitor on the labor market, Munich has a dominant role in the regional framing of Kempten and Memmingen. In this orientation the Bavarian identity seems to have a defining role and administrative borders have the potential to function as mental borders. World cities are also dominantly present in the macro dimension of the regional network of Kempten and Memmingen. In this, internationally operating companies are important actors for connecting the city into the world city network. As such locally rooted companies with international connections and tourism are crucial for the way the macro dimension of the regional network of Kempten and Memmingen is formed. Within the macro dimension, world cities are locations with which companies located in the Allgu, Kempten and Memmingen have economic relations. They also function as markets for tourism towards the region and as hubs connecting the cities to the wider world city network. However, increased connectivity does not necessarily result in economic growth, for it is as easy to go to as to leave the city or to use the city as a transfer node. It is important to realize that indeed airports, and likewise other infrastructure, have the potential to be factors helping the economic development of cities. It is however evenly or maybe even more important to realize that airports are not a guarantee for a successful economic development of the airport city. As such, they can be only one aspect of a good economic development plan for cities. Equally important are a good cooperation with relevant partners and the development of other distinctive niches which offer the city potential advantages for its economic development.

Table of contents
I. II. II.1. II.2. II.3. II.4. II.5. II.6. III. III.1. III.2. III.2.1. III.2.2. III.3. III.3.1. III.3.1.1. III.3.1.2. III.3.2. III.3.3. III.3.3.1. III.3.3.2. III.3.4. III.3.5. III.3.6. IV. IV.1. IV.1.1. IV.1.2. IV.2. IV.2.1. IV.2.1.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 Theoretical framework ................................................................................................ 4 Small and medium-sized cities a matter of size ......................................................... 4 The world city network .................................................................................................. 5 Urban competitiveness.................................................................................................. 8 The role of airports in the world city network .......................................................... 10 Airline companies, airports and economic development ........................................... 11 City branding................................................................................................................ 14 Methodological aspects ............................................................................................. 16 Research strategy ........................................................................................................ 16 Quantitative analysis ................................................................................................... 16 Case selection............................................................................................................ 17 The statistical analysis ............................................................................................... 17 Qualitative analysis ...................................................................................................... 18 Case selection............................................................................................................ 18 Selecting the airport city.............................................................................................. 19 Selecting the non-airport city ...................................................................................... 19 Operationalization and measurement of concepts .................................................. 21 Data collection .......................................................................................................... 22 Desktop research ......................................................................................................... 22 Semi-structured interview and cognitive mapping ..................................................... 23 Data processing and analysis .................................................................................... 24 Data manipulation for use in PAJEK .......................................................................... 25 Calculating connectivity in PAJEK .............................................................................. 26 Qualitative analysis.................................................................................................... 28 Situating the research case.......................................................................................... 28 Kempten and Memmingen, small Bavarian cities..................................................... 28 The Allgu Airport Memmingen................................................................................ 30 Geographical framing of Kempten and Memmingen .................................................. 32 The regional network of Kempten and Memmingen................................................ 32 The local dimension ..................................................................................................... 33

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IV.2.1.2. IV.2.1.3. IV.2.1.4. IV.2.2. IV.2.3. IV.3. IV.3.1. IV.3.2. IV.3.3. V. V.1. V.2. V.3. V.3.1. V.3.2. V.3.3. V.3.4. V.4. V.5. V.5.1. V.5.2. V.6. V.7. V.7.1. V.7.2. V.8. V.8.1. V.8.2. VI. VI.1. VI.2. VI.3. VII.

The meso dimension.................................................................................................... 33 The macro dimension .................................................................................................. 34 Hubs, connecting the dimensions of the regional network ........................................ 35 The centrality of Kempten and Memmingen in the regional network ..................... 35 Geographic orientation within the regional network ............................................... 38 The economic landscape of Kempten and Memmingen ............................................. 38 The economic sectors ............................................................................................... 38 Employment .............................................................................................................. 41 The internationalization of the Allgu economy....................................................... 43 Discussion ................................................................................................................. 45 The regional framing of Kempten and Memmingen ................................................... 45 Economic orientation of Kempten and Memmingen .................................................. 46 Competition and cooperation within the local and the meso dimension................... 47 Branding the Allgu ................................................................................................... 47 Labor market competition ........................................................................................ 47 The attraction of the world city brand ...................................................................... 48 Infrastructure, burden or relief ................................................................................. 48 Understanding the economic impact .......................................................................... 49 The macro dimension .................................................................................................. 50 Tourism ..................................................................................................................... 50 Internationalization of companies ............................................................................ 50 Economic activities associated with the world city network ...................................... 51 The role of world cities in the framing of Kempten and Memmingen ........................ 52 World cities within the local and the meso dimension............................................. 52 World cities and the macro level .............................................................................. 53 The role of airports in the framing of Kempten and Memmingen .............................. 54 The Allgu Airport Memmingen and connectivity .................................................... 54 The Allgu Airport Memmingen and urban economic development ....................... 54 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 56 The role of the Allgu Airport Memmingen in the framing of Kempten and Memmingen into the world city network ................................................................... 56 Discussing methodology and suggestions for further research .................................. 58 Recommendations for policy ....................................................................................... 59 Bibliography ......................................................................................................... Bibl.1

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VIII. VIII.1. VIII.2. VIII.3. VIII.4. VIII.5. VIII.6. VIII.7. VIII.8. VIII.9. VIII.10. VIII.11.

Appendices........................................................................................................... App.1 Appendix 1 - Candidate airport cities ..................................................................... App.1 Appendix 2 - World cities in Europe ....................................................................... App.2 Appendix 3 - List of cities involved in the quantitative analysis ............................. App.3 Appendix 4 - Correlation coefficients of the quantitative analysis ........................ App.5 Appendix 5 - List of destinations of Ryanair ........................................................... App.6 Appendix 6 - Questionnaire for the semi-structured interview ............................. App.7 Appendix 7 - Cognitive maps .................................................................................. App.8 Appendix 8 - Relevant maps ................................................................................. App.11 Appendix 9 - Economic data for Kempten, Memmingen ..................................... App.12 Appendix 10 - Tourist overnights ......................................................................... App.14 Appendix 11 - Founding shareholders of Allgu Airport Company ...................... App.15

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I. Introduction
We are living in interesting times. Globalization, urbanization, post-modernism are words most of us are familiar with. All are used to describe and make sense of the world in which we live in, a world of which the population continually increases. According to UN(2009), half the world population lives in urban areas, and this share is rising. Eurostat estimates that 75% to 85% of the population in European countries lives in urban areas (Le Gals, 2002). Cities, in a word, are becoming the common, natural habitat for most of the people. With this evolution we see the rise of mega-cities with a population above 10 million inhabitants. However, most of the urban population lives in cities or towns of fewer than half a million inhabitants - in 2009, 53% of the urban population in the more developed regions and cities with fewer than 100 000 inhabitants account for one third of the world urban population (UN, Dep. of Economic and Social Affairs, 2009).

Figure 1 - Total urban population in millions, by city size class (UN, Dep. of Economic and Social Affairs, 2009:5)

The world in which this takes place is said to be in a globalization process with proportions and characteristics unseen before (See amongst others: Knox, 1995). Researchers - like Friedmann, Castells, Sassen and Taylor amongst many others argue that cities play an
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important role in this evolution and function as nodes in a global economic network. While their work focus mainly on world cities, smaller cities too are an important part of the urban constitution, but are far less subject of discussion (Sassen, 2000; Bell & Jayne, 2006). While at first sight they may seem to be of little importance in a world of megalopolises, small cities, as figures above show, form the frame for a large part of the urban population. Or as Robinson (2002; in Bell and Jayne, 2006:1) puts it clearly: There is a large number of cities around the world which do not register on intellectual maps that chart the rise and fall of global and world cities. They dont fall into either of these categories, and they probably never will but many managers of these cities would like them to. The place of little and medium-sized cities in the world cities network, is consequently the main topic of this thesis. Many interesting questions come up when addressing them; such as for example do small to medium-sized cities use the adjacency of world cities in their positioning in the wider network of world cities and if so, why? or do small to medium-sized cities use location-related factors in their development strategies and if so, how can this be understood?. An overall discussion however, lies beyond the scope of this work as it potentially relates to many subjects. Instead this thesis will address the question of how small to medium-sized cities try to frame themselves in the world city network. Defining framing as the positioning of a unit into a wider network, framing a city reflects the idea that besides pure geographic orientation by way of altitudes and latitudes, a city also has a relative location which is function of its various relations with other units in the wider network. In the world city network this framing of the city is function of the relations with world cities and with other relevant settlements of this framework with economic activity and infrastructure as factors on which these relations materialize. With air traffic having an important connecting role within this global network, air traffic infrastructure such as airports is often referred to as growth pole for local economic development. As such, airports might be one important key for small to medium-sized cities to lock into the world city network. If this is the case, it can be argued, that small to mediumsized cities which situate an airport are more tightly connected to other cities and are more tightly knitted into the global network then cities which do not situate an airport. Following this reasoning, we arrive at the research question addressed in this master thesis: What role do airports play in the framing of small/medium-sized cities in a world city network and how does this work?

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Against the background of the world city network, this master thesis addresses the topic of airports and the way small and medium-sized cities may perceive them as a tool for framing the city in a globalised world. In literature and in everyday (political) discussions, there appears to be a genuine interest in the subject of the economic potential for cities accommodating airports. From this perspective, this thesis research is of interest for officials of (urban) regions, cities and airports and for people involved in urban and regional development. By addressing small to medium-sized cities I want to contribute to the debates regarding small cities. By addressing them from the viewpoint of the world city network, I want to contribute to the debate regarding urban networks, and more specifically the world city network and its regional setting. Finally, by addressing the presence of airports in function of urban economic development and geographical framing of small and medium-sized cities I contribute to the discussion regarding the role of airports in relation to the city.

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II. Theoretical framework

Globalization provides the overarching theoretical background for this framework and refers to a range of economic, political, social, cultural, geographical and technological developments affecting the relationship between space, place, institution and people (Boland, 2007:1020). It are these developments Le Gals (2002) observed while analyzing the changing landscape of the European urban system; the general increasing population of major cities in Europe in recent decades and the simultaneous significant economic growth; the shift from once dominant cities losing their importance to other cities, some of which are located in transportation hubs. According to Sassen (2000:41) these organizational and spatial implications of the new economic trends assume distinct forms in various urban systems. As such, the economic globalization, which Le Gals saw taking place, is conceptualized in the framework of world cities and the world city network. Within the context of the contemporary globalised world, small and medium-sized cities try to frame themselves into the broader global economic network, while competing for resources and competitive advantages. I argue that airports in this setting may function as a tool for the economic development of these cities.

II.1.

Small and medium-sized cities a matter of size

Hierarchical classification on the basis of population size is not all that straightforward as it may seem at first sight. As many such urban hierarchies exist, they are often contextrelated.1 As such, finding an appropriate definition for small and medium-sized cities seems to be a simple case of selecting the appropriate hierarchy. Bell and Jayne (2006:1) however, argue that attempts to schematize cities into a pecking order [] tend to be inadequate due to [the] discursive and differential construction of cities and urban hierarchies around the world. *+. Especially small cities face the problem of definition, as they are *c+aught between the bigness of the global metropolis dominating global flows of capital, culture and people, and the openness of the rural (Ibid.). Aspiration as well, e.g. for a role in the world city network, is a defining aspect when characterizing a typology of cities.
1

The UN (2002) World Urbanization Prospects: The 2001 Revision for example defines medium-sized cities as having a population of 1 to 5 million inhabitants.

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While population size does not give the whole picture of what small cities stand for, it still is the defining determinant in many urban hierarchies (see amongst others Peter Hall, 2004, in Bell & Jayne, 2006; UN, 2009). As such, the size of the urban population is one of the criteria for case selection in this thesis. With respect to the European focus, we look at European hierarchies in order to determine appropriate definitions for small and medium-sized cities; Medium-sized cities are defined by Eurostat (2010a) as settlements of 50 000 to 250 000 inhabitants, while large cities have more than 250 000 inhabitants. Kunzmann (2009:4) defines a medium-sized town as having a population of 20 000 to 200 000 people, depending on population density and the respective urban system in a country. In Germany, the population range for small cities is 20 000 to 50 000 inhabitants (Meyer-Kriesten, 2002 in Flacke, 2004).

With reference to these categorizations, small cities are defined as cities with +/- 20 000 to 50 000 inhabitants and medium sized as cities with a population of +/- 50 000 to 250 000.

II.2.

The world city network

The theoretical line of thought followed throughout this thesis is by large based on the work of Sassen (2000) and of Taylor (2004) who identified cities as nodes in a world city network within Castells global space of flows. Manuel Castells (1996, in Taylor, 2004:8) conceptualization of cities as being not a place but a process, meaning a process by which centers [] are connected in a global network is central in the idea of world city networks. It inherently implies that no city exists on its own. It also draws the attention towards the idea of connectivity of cities (Taylor, 2004), creating an urban system. The idea of networks of cities is not new, as Janet Abu Lughods description of the 13th-14th century transcontinental archipelago system, the Hansa community of trading cities and Braudels model of world cities illustrates (described in Taylor, 2004). However, its nature and characteristics makes the world city network distinguishably different. With world city network-theory focusing on inter-city relations and on dependencies and interdependencies between world cities, it looks at configurations of connections between many cities in order to understand how cities work together as economic entities in the nature of contemporary globalization (Ibid.).

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When Bourne and Simmons (1978, in Taylor, 2004:16) defined urban systems as a set of interdependent cities comprising a region or a nation, they argued that cities should be seen as part of a larger system in order to understand how any one city changes (Taylor, 2004). In this system, interaction between cities creates feedback effects which regulate growth and change (Bourne and Simmons, 1978, in Taylor, 2004:16) and as such forms the basis of a hierarchical order of cities (Taylor, 2004). With the rise of contemporary globalization, the global overtook the nation-state as arena for (economic) interaction (Knox, 1995; Taylor, 2004). Multinational corporations became the new major players operating in what Brown (1973, in Taylor, 2004:21) called a world without borders. In this context, and with Friedmann, Sassen and Castells as major contributors, the world city approach emerged during the 1980s and 1990s as a new line of thinking regarding cities (Taylor, 2004). Friedmanns (1986, in Taylor, 2004:22) world city hypothesis addressed the spatial organization of the new international division of labour by linking urbanization processes to global economic forces. Friedmann emphasizes spatial articulation. Cities are centers through which flow money, workers, information, commodities (Ibid:23). As such they economically connect their hinterland with the global economy. With its notion of inter-city relations transcending state boundaries, Friedmanns global framework resulted to be a major paradigm shift in urban studies (King, 1990 in Taylor, 2004:24). Cities were now able to position themselves in a global society (Knight and Gappert, 1989 in Ibid.:24), a world where development [of global cities] is being driven more by globalization than nationalization (Knight, 1989 in Ibid.:24). In contemporary society, transformation is driven by a technological revolution that is organized around information technologies (Borja & Castells, 1996:7). The introduction of new telecommunications and information technology has led to tendencies of decentralization and agglomeration of economic activities (Sassen, 2000; Taylor, 2004). For long time it was believed that the globalization of economic activity, developments in telecommunications and the growth of information industries, would make the notion of place of little importance and cities would become of lesser economic importance (Borja & Castells, 1996; Sassen, 2000). However, Sassen (2000) observed new forms of territorial centralization based on top-level management, control operations and information industries. These activities all require, at the least partially, place-bound central strategic nodes which function as operating or production centers for the global system.

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Sassen (Ibid:4) concludes that this combination of spatial dispersal and global integration [] has contributed to a strategic role for certain major cities. These global cities are: (1) command points in the organization of the world economy; (2) key locations and marketplaces for the leading industries of the current period finance and specialized services for firms; and (3) major sites of production for these industries, including the production of innovations in these industries. Sassen thus links the prominence of world cities to their functioning as nodes in the complex global network of economic interaction. The role of these world cities is in part defined by the contemporary globalization of economic activity and the increased importance of services. With their agglomeration of economies and highly innovative environments, cities are preferred production sites (Sassen, 2000:59-60) for services in all industries, especially for services to firms.2 The resulting complex of producer services3 has distinct place-related characteristics which are often corresponding with those of an urban location (Ibid.). As Sassen (2000) does not link these functions uniquely to world cities, the global network of cities is itself not delimited to the major global cities but expands to lower geographical scale. Cities cater to global, national, sub-national and regional markets and the producer services complexes need for a city location manifests itself at different levels of the urban hierarchy, ranging from the global to the regional (Ibid.: 85). Cities on the smaller geographic scales of both trans- and sub-national regions *+ fulfill equivalent functions (Ibid.:4) to those of world cities and are as such part of a network of cities. With world cities, and in extension cities on lower geographical scale, forming urban systems or networks, Taylor (2001:181) refers to their unusual form as a triple-level structure. In this structure, cities are nodes constituting the knowledge constellations for productions services, the world economy is the supranodal network level in which the network operates to dispense services and the advanced producer service firms form a critical subnodal level producing the services. While networks in human geography often have been approached from the view of infrastructural networks, such as international airline flights in the case of world cities, for Taylor infrastructure supports the world city network rather than defines it. Instead the
2 3

Cities are key sites for the production of services for firms (Sassen, 2000:59). Sassen (2000:61) defines producer services as services for firms, including financial, legal and general management matters; innovation; development; design; administration; personnel; production technology; maintenance; transport; communications; wholesale distribution; advertising; cleaning services for firms; security and storage.

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world city network is a social network, a form of organization where nodes are actors and links are [] economic, particular inter-city relations that operate to geographically structure the world economy (Taylor, 2001:181). The world city network differs from other social networks in the idea that cities are actors with decision-making administrations and with competition between cities as part of world city formation (Ibid:181). Cities are as such not the key actors in the world city network. Instead, multinational corporations are and it is their behavior and global location strategies that creates cities as the nodes of the network. World city network formation is thus an outcome of global corporate decisions, not the collective works of urban policymakers (Ibid). With not cities, but multinational corporations as key actors in the world city network, it seems that cities are left with few possibilities to determine their own faith. However, as Kunzmann (2007) pointed out; big, medium-sized and small cities are competing with each other for centuries for power, political influence, human resources and talent, infrastructure and tourists and financial support. How then, does inter-city competition fits within the framework of world city network?

II.3.

Urban competitiveness

According to Porter (1998, in Begg, 2002) no generally accepted definition of competitiveness exist. Lovering (2001, in Boland, 2007:1022) argues that when competitiveness is applied to territorially-defined social aggregations such as cities and regions, the term loses all coherence. However, while the idea of competitiveness rankings is contested (see amongst others Bristow, 2005 in Boland, 2007; Van Roosbroek & Van Dooren, 2006), competitiveness discourses are omnipresent in economic development theory and policy, providing local authorit[ies] with a valuable evidence tool on comparative performance and a legitimization of the policy emphasis on competitiveness and the knowledge economy (Boland, 2007:1022). Within the context of an urban network Borja and Castells (1999:204) argue that competition between urban areas is generally established in terms of specialization or of geographical proximity. On one side, cities compete on the basis of specialization in fields in which they seem to have a comparative advantage, while on the other side cities which are located in each others geographical proximity compete to consolidate themselves as centers of economic, cultural and political attraction for the macro-region (Ibid.:205). However competition on the basis of geographical proximity can change into cooperation when nearby cities agree to implement certain projects which can be beneficial for the region as a whole (Ibid:205). This formation of strategic alliances is also observed by Sassen (2000)
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and leave Borja and Castells (1999:205) to conclude that *c]ity networks become instruments and mechanisms of promotion of urban centers by bringing them into broader and denser areas of relationship. In later writings Taylor (2004) acknowledges the existence of city competition, which in his reasoning manifests itself in the attraction of firms to the city. The real competition takes place between firms themselves. Taylor argues that the city governments have a mainly local and single-city based focus, attracting firms via infrastructural-type policies, such as the building of new offices, airports and communication infrastructure. The world city network itself has been largely ignored. According to Sassen (2000:71) concentration [of firms in cities] arises out of the needs and expectations of the people likely to be employed in these new high-skill jobs4 who tend to be attracted to the amenities and lifestyles that large urban centers can offer. So in order to attract businesses, cities have to operate in ways to attract and keep the skilled labor force in which these businesses are interested. While Sassen (2000) links services predominantly to financing and specialized services, economic development strategies in the last decennia paid a lot of attention to the notions of creative industries (see amongst others Hesmondalgh, 2007), creative cities (see amongst others Landry and Bianchini, 1998) and the creative class (Florida, 2002). Florida (2002) for example, argues that economic development is driven by a citys ability to be an open, diverse and tolerant place in order to attract creative people which in turn will attract investment and stimulate economic growth. To be sure, Floridas arguments encounter many critiques, amongst which are Scott (2006; 2010) and Peck (2005). But Floridas arguments do seem to be influential in many western cities economic and cultural-creative policies, often leading to competition between cities. With reference to the system of candidacies for the title of European Capital of Culture, Boland (2007) claims that intensified global competition has led national, regional and local policy-makers to focus upon competitiveness as a key economic tool. In accordance with these views, cities do have options in attracting corporations and they will operate in ways to attract and keep leading firms to locate within their boundaries.

With high skill jobs Sassen(2000) refers to jobs in the producer service sector. See also footnote 3, p. 7.

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II.4.

The role of airports in the world city network

Although it may seem odd when looking at the vast development of telecommunications in recent times, airports and connections of cities via air traffic are addressed many times in global city network-theory5, which suggests a strong correlation between good traffic linkages and urban integration at the national, regional and global levels (Owen, 1987 in Keeling, 1995). Borja and Castells (1997:17) argue that when a regional center in the global economy emerges, it is invariably organized around an international airport, [], financial and consultancy firms familiar with the region, [] and a local labor market having personnel skilled in advanced services and technological infrastructure. For Sassen (1998, in Smith & Timberlake, 2001:1664) conventional infrastructure, such as airports, is crucial to the world city network, as it is precisely the nature of the production process in advanced industries, whether they operate globally or nationally, that has contributed to the immense rise in business travel in all advanced economies over the past decade. The dense patterns of interaction between people, goods and information which defines world cities as commanding nodes, explain the strong relationship between cities and transport. Transport has a crucial and fundamental role facilitating such interaction by means of [a] rapidly expanding and sophisticated global network of transport services and infrastructure [while in] turn, the globalization of finance, production, labour, service, cultures, and information has given impetus to, and has helped to shape, extraordinary advances in transport provision (Keeling, 1995:115). The interaction between place, global capital and the international division of labor - the three central pillars of the world city system - is intertwined with and conditioned by social, cultural, political and environmental processes. Transport has an important structuring function as it helps to shape the negative, positive, and neutral spatial impacts of these interrelated processes and in turn, is shaped by these impacts(Ibid:116). In concrete terms, Green (2007) argues that modern communication technology such as internet generates extra air traffic by expanding the group of persons which might eventually wish to meet, either for business or for social purposes. In any way, it is clear that, despite the global telecommunications revolution, there is still a great demand for face-to-face contacts and according to Keeling (1995:118) air transport is the preferred mode for inter-city movement for the transnational capitalist class, migrants, tourists, and high-value, low-bulk goods.

E.g., Cattan (1995), Simon (1995) and Rimmer (1998) make use of air traffic as a measure of a citys standing in the world system (Smith & Timberlake, 2001).

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World cities are connected by transport networks and services that provide linkages to other major, as well as regional and local, cities. Keeling (Ibid:118) argues that these connections are primarily facilitated at the global and regional levels by air transport. As a means for short-haul transport, Park and Ha (2006) argue, air traffic gets severe competition from highspeed trains to such extent that for distances of 500 km or less air transport services cannot compete effectively with high-speed rail. With infrastructure often considered being a crucial factor of growth and development, the increasing importance of air transport connecting territories make airports particularly strategically important (Johannson, 2007; Percoco, 2010) and air links can be seen as a component indicating a citys aspiration to world city status (Keeling, 1995). Direct connections into the global airline system and into the world city network are perceived to endow certain competitive advantages upon urban areas, both in view of the economic impetus as towards the perception of a [] citys attractiveness for other activities such as tourism (Keeling, 1995:118) as is illustrated by ACI (2004), which propagates global accessibility and external and international transport links as key factors for business location decisions. References to airports as growth poles for regional economies are widely taken over by popular press and local economic development agents (Green, 2007; Tomkins, 1995 in Hakfoort et al., 2001). Airports and air connections often become important political issues for cities. For symbolic reasons as well as for economic self-interest, members of growth coalitions and of the capitalist class seek to gain public support to develop their citys airline capacity (Smith & Timberlake, 2001:1664).

II.5.

Airline companies, airports and economic development

In the past 20 years, under the outcome of the European deregulation of air traffic, the airline industry has evolved from a system of state-owned carriers operating in a regulated market to a dynamic, free-market industry. This has induced many changes such as the formation of airline alliances and the reorganization of airline networks into a (multi) huband-spoke system (Alderighi et al., 2004). Within the passenger air travel industry, differentiation between low cost airlines which business model is based on cost leadership or cost minimization and full service carriers which model is essentially base on a differentiation strategy is observed. Low cost carriers characteristically operate on point-to-point routes covering short haul destinations, while full service carriers offer a mix of short, medium and long-haul routes (Alderighi et al., 2004; Hunter, 2006).

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This differentiation has consequences for airports as well. Low cast carriers typically use secondary (or smaller) airports, which are less expensive in terms of landing tax and handling fee than primary (or bigger) airports while full service carriers operate on principal airports (Hunter, 2006; Alamdari & Fagan, 2005). As is shown by Debbage (1999 in Johansson, 2007), locking in into the airline network can indeed affect the competitive advantage of places, especially in times when there is transitional change in the economical structure (Johansson, 2007). The success of the use of airports and airline networks as tool for economic development differs however from one city to the other (Johansson, 2007). The size and function of the city, its traffic shadow and distance to major population centers as well as the citys actual functioning as a transportation hub within the network, with centrality and intermediacy as important characteristics, are all elements affecting air passenger traffic (Taaffe, 1956 & Goetz, 1992 in Johansson, 2007). Besides their role as transport nodes, airports are also important factors in the regional economy as they provide employment and generate income. As such their impact is related to (Graham, 2003 in Percoco, 2010; ACI, 2004): - the direct construction and operation of the airport (i.e. the direct impact), - the chain of suppliers of goods and services (i.e. the indirect impact), - the spending of the incomes earned by employees working in these direct or indirect sectors, - the employment and income generated by the airport as it functions as a driver stimulating the productivity and efficiency of businesses by providing easy access to suppliers and customers and as attractor for economic activities (i.e. the catalytic impact). The related effects can both have a temporary, e.g. increased income and employment in the construction sector as a result of investments in the airport, as well as a long-standing nature. They can take place on both demand side, i.e. related to the operation and maintenance of the airport, as well as on the supply side, i.e. effects on productivity and location of activities and on the attractiveness of the regions as well as environmental impact, of the economy (Hakfoort et al. 2001). The spatial dimension of the economic impact of an airport is factor of the spatial dispersion of its users across the area served by a given airport (Percoco, 2010). The economic impact of airports can also be approached from point of view of their type of activity, whether it is related to passenger and/or freight traffic. Both passengers and goods can by further typified on basis of their origin, stemming from either (1) the region served by the airport on their way to other regions (i.e. outgoing traffic) or from (2) outside this

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region arriving into the region by plane (i.e. incoming traffic) or (3) transferring as the airport is neither origin nor travel destination (i.e. transfer traffic) (Hakfoort et al., 2001). For incoming and outgoing traffic the demands on the airport is highly related to regional factors such as size of the considered region, its features of employment and population, the presence of tourist attractions and/or other economic functions, accessibility of the airport and competition of other airports situated in the area (Hakfoort et al, 2001). The economic impact of such airports encompasses all four categories described earlier6. For transfer traffic quality features of the airport itself, such as quality of connections and the position of the airport in the broader airport system, are considered to be important characteristics and the related economic relevance is confined to direct impact and indirect impact (Hakfoort, 2001; Button & Lall, 1999). In his analysis of the potential relationship between airport activity and economic development, Green (2007) started from the assumptions that people tend to move to places which have economic opportunities and that places which perform economically well tend to grow. Analysing population and employment growth and boarding and cargo measures7, Green shows that, for the nations largest metropolitan areas, passenger activity8 is a predictor for economic growth while cargo activity is not. This is not surprising, as freight distribution is a highly automated sector and the economic impact of aerial freight transport is considered to be quite low, especially in comparison to the economic impact of passenger transport. As a consequence, most attention on airports in economic development discourses focuses on passenger traffic. The economic growth related to passenger activity finds its origin in tourism and business (Green, 2007; Pels et al., 2009). In order to realize economic development by manner of air passenger traffic, it is important to provide good airline services. Frequent service to and from a variety of destinations reflects in a high level of passenger traffic. It also facilitates face-to-face contact9, considered to be of special importance for service-related businesses, with businesses in other cities and consequently attracts new firms to the area and stimulates employment at the established businesses. Airports, thus, can increase productivity and employment especially in the service sector, where reliance on knowledge intensity in the production process and interpersonal
6 7

See p.12. Boarding is a measure reflecting the economic impact of airports arising from business and tourist development, while cargo reflects the economic impact arising from distribution. 8 Passenger activity is a measure for incoming and outgoing passenger traffic. 9 Based on Gaspar and Glaeser (1998) and Vandell and Green (2001), Green (2007) argues that modern communication technology, such as internet, generates extra air traffic by expanding the group of persons which might eventually wish to meet, either for business or for social purposes.

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interactions are essential (Button & Lall, 1999; Graham, 2003 in Percoco, 2010). However, according to Brueckner (2003) airline traffic has little to no effect on employment in manufacturing and other goods-related sectors. Following these argumentation, airports can be seen as genuine attractors for high technology jobs. The proximity of an airport hub has important structural advantages for the local economy (Percoco, 2010).

II.6.

City branding

In Moilanen and Rainisto (2009:viii), Philip Kotler commented that London, Venice, Rome and dozens of other great cities were known around the world both because of the accounts of travelers as well as the effort of these great cities to attract tourists, skilled workers, investors, and buyers of their products and services. In order to distinct themselves, cities have been marketing themselves for centuries, albeit often in an informal way. Place branding, defined by Anholt (2007, in Moilanen and Rainisto, 2009:7) as the management of place image through strategic innovation and coordinated economic, commercial, social, cultural, and government policy, recently has entered the foreground. Creating a branding program for a city needs a comprehensive analysis of the city concerned to identify those factors of attraction which increase the places image value and attractiveness. Contemporary place marketing looks for competitive, defined niches fields of activities and companies which offer a place unique benefits (Moilanen and Rainisto, 2009: 5). Consequently, references to closer networks; promotion of partners in the private and public sectors to develop technological resources, improved business and technical education; and attempts to attract local entrepreneurs are seen as levering tools for developing a place (Kotler et al, 1999, in Moilanen and Rainisto, 2009:5). As such, by connecting to the world city network and attracting tourism, business and/or Floridas creative class, airports may be viewed as tools for city promotion and may form part of a citys brand. The promotion of such niche characteristics is part of the framing of a city as it has the potential to influence the citys relations with and its orientation towards other cities and consequently determine its relative location within a network. In order to appeal to investors and companies, small and medium-sized places however require more critical mass than world cities. As such, a single city might need to be part of a larger location in place branding strategies. Consequently, strategic alliances with other locations or associating oneself with an established brand might be a sensible strategy as it can decisively increase the value of the partners involved (Moilanen & Rainisto, 2009).

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In marketing of air travel airlines, airport authorities as well as local government and corporate city boosters play an important and interrelated role (Johansson, 2007). The fact that all flights have a destination makes place-based marketing necessary. In this the airport itself and implicitly also the city, play an important promotional role (Johansson, 2007).

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III. Methodological aspects

III.1. Research strategy

The research question What role do airports play in the framing of small and mediumsized cities in the world city network and how does this work? is addressed in this thesis by a comparative analysis of the framing of cities situating an airport and of cities not situating an airport. Concrete, this thesis looks for potential differences between the perceived and factual economic development, economic orientation and geographic framing of these cities within the world city network in order to address the role airports and world cities have in these processes. Via this research strategy, the hypothesis, stating that small and medium-sized cities which situate an airport are more tightly connected to other cities and are more tightly knitted into the global network then cities which do not situate an airport, will be tested. A first analysis addresses the subject in a general quantitative way. Using a qualitative approach, the more detailed analysis of two cities, of which one situates an airport, addresses the role of the airport and of world cities in the process of framing small to medium-sized cities into the world city network. With the studys focus on European cities, the sample is situated on the European continent. In accordance to the research design, the methodology for case selection will inherently focus on two types of small to medium-sized cities; cities situating an airport (i.e. the airport city) and cities without an airport (i.e. the non-airport city).

III.2.

Quantitative analysis

In order to generate a general image regarding potential relations, via statistical analyses correlations are calculated on the basis of on the one hand the presence of an airport and on the other hand the status for indicators for economic development for a selection of small and medium-sized cities from the database of the European Commissions Urban Audit10.

10

The Urban Audit, conducted at the initiative of the DG Regional Policy of the European Commission, provides urban statistics for 258 European cities (Regional policy - Inforegio, s.d.).

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III.2.1.

Case selection

This selection contained all Austrian, Belgian, German, Finnish, French, Greek, Irish, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish and British cities with a population up to 249 999 inhabitants included in this database, a total of 140 cities.11 This selection was cross-referenced with the IATA-list of airport codes to identify those cities which situate an airport.12

III.2.2.

The statistical analysis

For the sample, correlations are calculated with Excel. The correlations relate to, on the one hand, the status of being an airport city or a non-airport city13, and on the other hand the status reflecting the situation or evolution regarding an indicator from the Urban Audit and this for a selection of indicators.14
Indicator Total resident population Unemployment rate Proportion of employment in industries G-P (NACE Rev. 1) Proportion of employment in financial and business services (NACE Rev.1: J-K) Tourists overnight stays per resident population
Table 1 - Urban Audit indicators used for quantitative analysis.

To adjust for national differences, the values for these indicators are normalized with the responding national average:
( ) ( ( ) )

The correlations are interpreted as follows:

11 12

See Appendix 3. IATA : International Air Transport Association. The database with airport codes can be found on Airlinecodes.co.uk ( s.d.) 13 See Table 3, p.17. 14 See Table 1, p.16.

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Correlation coefficient 0,0 0,3 0,3 0,5 0,5 0,7 0,7 0,9 0,9 1,0

Interpretation Little if any correlation Low correlation Moderate correlation High correlation Very high correlation

Table 2 Interpretation of the correlation coefficients according to Hinkle, Wiersma & Jurs (1998).

However, as the correlation coefficients calculated15 all were between 0,0 and 0,3 there is little or no correlation found between the presence of an airport and the economic indicators referring to population, employment and tourism.

III.3.

Qualitative analysis

III.3.1.

Case selection

The sample for the detailed qualitative analysis exists of sets of two cities (i.e. a case), which meet the following requirements:
Requirements Presence of an airport - one city situates an airport (i.e. the airport city) while the other city does not situate an airport (i.e. the non-airport city), Population size - both airport and non-airport city are small to medium-sized cities and have approximately the same population size, Both cities are locked into the world city network, Both cities are located in the same geographical area.
Table 3 - Characteristics of cases.

For each potential case, first the appropriate airport city is selected. The corresponding nonairport city is successively picked from potential candidate cities surrounding the chosen airport city.

15

See Appendix 4

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III.3.1.1.

Selecting the airport city

As stated earlier16, airline connections are used frequently to describe the world city network. Correspondingly, the selection of the airport city for the case couple was based on travel destinations of the European low-cost airline Ryanair, resulting in a list of 162 potential European airport cities.17 When taking a closer look, this list contains several destinations which, apparently with deliberate intention, refer to a world city in which (wide) surroundings the airport is located. This observation and the assumption that these proposed links reflect an existing relation between the world city and the city situating the airport18 form the basis for further selection. As a result the original list of potential airport cities is reduced to 11 candidates; namely Beauvais, Bergamo, Charleroi, Ciampino, Girona, Luton, Memmingen, Reus, Rygge, Sandjeford and Weeze. These cities are all located within a 150 km radius of the respective world city.19 The population of the 11 candidate airport cities does not exceed 250 000 inhabitants and as such comply with the requirement regarding population size. However, with less than 20 000 inhabitants, Rygge and Weeze do not meet the population standards stated in the definition for small cities.20 On the basis of practical assumptions regarding economic travel potential, Memmingen and Sandjeford are chosen as airport cities to be addressed in the continuation of the case selection. III.3.1.2. Selecting the non-airport city

For both Memmingen and Sandjeford potential non-airport cities are selected on the basis of their population size and their geographical location towards the selected airport city. The latter characteristic also addresses the relation with the world city network, as this was already part of the selection procedure for the airport city. In order to rule out contextual administrative differences as much as possible, potential nonairport cities were searched for within the administrative area of the airport city i.e. the Regierungsbezirke21 of Swabia in the German state of Bavaria in the case of the Kreisfreie Stadt22 Memmingen and the fylke23 of Vestfold in the case of Sandjeford.

16 17

See 5, p. 10. See Appendix 5. 18 And as such meet the requirement of being locked into the world city network. 19 See Appendix 2. 20 See II.1, p. 4. 21 Regierungsbezirke is translated in English as Government district. 22 Kreisfreie Stadt is translated in English as Independent city.

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Memmingen Potential nonairport city Kempten Neu-Ulm Kaufbeuren Memmingen Population 24 size 62 060 53 504 41 843 41 025 Approximate distance +/- 30 km +/- 45 km +/- 40 km -

Sandjeford Potential nonairport city Sandjeford Larvik Tonsberg Population (25) size 43 657 42 664 39 747 Approximate distance +/- 20 km +/- 10 km

Table 4 - Population size of potential non-airport cities.

On the basis of population size, distance26 and geographic location27 regarding adjacent world cities, the independent city of Kempten is selected as corresponding non-airport city for Memmingen. As corresponding non-airport city for Sandjeford, the city of Larvik was selected. Next, key persons from relevant organizations representing the selected case cities were contacted via e-mail. The e-mail described the outline of the research and contained a request for an interview. With four interviews a reasonable response was obtained for Memmingen and Kempten. No Norwegian response on the request was received. As a result the final case selection was limited to the German city of Memmingen, as airport city, and the responding non-airport city of Kempten.

23 24

Fylke is translated in English as County. Population on 31.12.2010 (Bayerisches Landesamt fr Statistik und Datenverarbeitung, s.d.). 25 Estimated population on 01.01.2011 (Statistics Norway, 2011). 26 Linear distance between two locations, measured using Google Earth. 27 See Figure 2, p.20.

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Figure 2 - The geographical location of the airport city Memmingen and the non-airport city Kempten (Own creation, 29 using Google Earth ).

III.3.2.

Operationalization and measurement of concepts

The concepts of framing and connectivity used in the research question and the hypothesis are, within the design of this research, closely related. Both refer to the existence of relations between small/medium-sized cities and world cities within the framework of the world city network. Based on findings from the theoretical framework, this research approaches these concepts from (socio-) geographical and from economic point of view. Consequently, a city is (socio-) geographically more connected to the world city network when there are more (perceived) links to world cities. With cities being regarded as nodes and traffic infrastructure as links or connections, a network is formed which can be studied with the use of social network analysis. The socio-geographic character of the network refers to the perceived connections; the geographic character itself refers to the factual existing traffic infrastructure connections between the nodes of the perceived network. A city is said to be economically more connected to the world city network when its economic activities are more focused on economic activities such as business services, knowledge technology and tourism, which have been associated with world cities.

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Again both factual and perceived situation are discussed28. Of special importance for this research is the economic and geographic connectivity related to air traffic and the economic and geographic relations towards world cities and the world city network. As a result the research approach points to the following data required for the analysis:
Required data Method for data collection Data regarding nodes (i.e. cities) and connections (i.e. traffic infrastructure) , for both perceived and factual situation Data regarding distances, routes and mode of transportation for travelling to world cities, for both perceived and factual situation Economic data Data regarding the shares of economic sectors in Gross Value Added (GVA), for both perceived and factual situation Data regarding shares of economic sectors in employment, for both perceived and factual situation Data regarding the role of the airport in urban economic development Data regarding the role of world cities in urban economic development The perceived role of the airport in the economic development of (small and medium-sized) cities Semi-structured interview Desktop research Semi-structured interview Desktop research Cognitive mapping

Geographic data

The perceived role of world cities in the economic development of (small and medium-sized) cities

Semi-structured interview

Table 5 - Overview of data required for research and of methodology for data collection.

III.3.3.

Data collection

The required data is gathered by means of desktop research and semi-structured expert interviews. III.3.3.1. Desktop research

Factual geographic data is collected via desktop research of relevant websites and reports and by use of the geographic software tool Google Earth29.

28

See II.2, p.5.

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Data regarding the factual economic situation is collected via desktop research of relevant (statistical) websites and reports. III.3.3.2. Semi-structured interview and cognitive mapping

Data related to the perception of the geographical orientation and the economic situation is collected via a semi-structured interview which is combined with a cognitive mapping exercise. Four expert interviews are conducted on location in Memmingen and Kempten between June 29thand July 1st, 2011. The experts interviewed are - Managing director of Allgu GmbH, - Head of the Department for Business, Culture and Management of the city of Kempten, - Responsible for PR and Public relations of the Allgu Airport GmbH & Co. KG., - Responsible for Controlling and Corporate Development of the Allgu Airport GmbH & Co. KG., - Business promotor for the city of Memmingen. The interview is structured in two parts according to the dominant technique used. (a) Semi-structured interview

First a classic semi-structured interview is conducted on the basis of a questionnaire which is used as a guideline for the interview30. The interview is formulated to address the interviewees perception of the economic structure of the city and the region, the impact of the airport on the economic structure of the city and the region and the orientation of the city and the region towards adjacent world cities and the world city network. (b) Cognitive mapping

Next, the interviewees are asked to draw two maps representing the city or organization they represent in relation to its surrounding area. The goal of the cognitive mapping exercise is the representation of the network, consisting of nodes and connections, which is relevant for the geographic and economic orientation of the research sample. The interviewees are given precise guidelines and are asked to comment their sketching while drawing. The first map focuses on nodes and transport connections and on economic relations between the nodes mentioned.
29 30

Google Earth, version 6.03.2197. See Appendix 6.

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The second map focuses on distances, routes and travel modes in relation to 12 European world cities31, which are chosen on the basis of collected background information32 regarding (air) connections of the Allgu Airport Memmingen33, Munich Airport34, Stuttgart Airport35 and Flughafen Zurich36, or on the basis of their location as world city close to the case cities (Munich, Stuttgart, Zurich).
Allgu Airport Memmingen Barcelona Berlin Budapest London Moscow Paris Rome Stockholm Strasbourg
Table 6 - Air connections in function of cognitive mapping, map 2.

Munich Airport

Stuttgart Airport

Zurich Airport

III.3.4.

Data processing and analysis

The interviews are recorded, using a digital voice-recorder, with permission of the interviewees. Next, the interviews are transcribed using word-processing software. The transcriptions are used to analyses the interviews for references to a list of key concepts37 with the emergent coding technique.
Key concepts Economic structure (share of sectors, employment)

31

I.c. Barcelona, Berlin, Budapest, London, Moscow, Munich, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Strasbourg and Zurich. 32 See Table 6, p.16. 33 (Allgu Airport Memmingen, s.d.) 34 (Flughafen Mnchen GmbH , 2011) 35 (Flughafen Stuttgart GmbH, s.d.) 36 (Flughafen Zrich AG, s.d.) 37 See Table 7, p.24.

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Economic strengths and weaknesses Economic evolution (Economic) competition (Economic) cooperation Economic orientation towards (world) cities Role of infrastructure in (economic) development Role of (world) cities in (economic) development
Table 7 - Key concepts used in emergent coding analysis of the interviews.

The cognitive maps are analyzed for structural geographic elements38.

Map 1 Size of the network Nodes of the network Infrastructural traffic connections (for road, railway and air) Map 2 Routes Travel modes Distances
Table 8 - Elements for analysis of the cognitive maps.

The social network analysis software PAJEK39 is used to visualize the networks and to calculate centrality measures for several scenarios40.

III.3.5.

Data manipulation for use in PAJEK

For each map, the data collected during the four exercises are combined and incorporated into one data file; i.e. the source file.41 All data regarding nodes and relations in this source file is corrected for in function of the factual existing situation for locations and connections and of the chronological order of the connections.
38

See Table 8, p. 24. PAJEK is a free software program for social network analysis designed by the University of Ljubljana in order to deal with large networks (Batagelj and Mrvar, 2010). 40 See Table 12, p.35 and Table 13, p.45. 41 The four mapping exercises for Map 1 showed large similarities in size of the network and in its main characteristics in nodes and relations.
39

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The source file for Map 1 contains data for the conceived regional network relevant for both the cities of Kempten and Memmingen.42 It contains information regarding nodes and (transport) connections which are considered relevant for this network. The source file for Map 2 contains data of the routes and modes of transportation for travelling from both cities of Kempten and Memmingen to a prescribed set of nodes (i.e. world cities).43 For both maps, the nodes comprise the units of the network, the connections (or routes) between them by highway, railroads and direct air connections form the relations within the network. For every Map, a reference file is set up, containing all the actual existing connections for the nodes mentioned in the source files. These connections refer to highways, railways (i.e. local connections for the region itself and high speed train connections for locations out of the region), and air traffic (i.e. with respect to the nodes mentioned in the source file air connections from Allgu Airport Memmingen, Munich Airport, Stuttgart Airport and Friedrichshafen Airport) are included.44

III.3.6.

Calculating connectivity in PAJEK

In PAJEK, measures of centrality , i.e. closeness centrality, betweenness centrality and hub weights, for the units of both source file and reference file of Map 1 are calculated. As the network is set up around Kempten and Memmingen, only the centrality measures for these units are considered to be relevant for this research. Closeness centrality (Cc) gives an indication of the centrality of the unit in function of its accessibility for all other units. A unit is considered to be central when it is close to all other units. This is expressed by a high relative closeness centrality. The closeness centrality for unit x is calculated in PAJEK as follows: 45 ( )

Betweenness centrality (Cb) gives an indication of the centrality of the unit in function of its presence on the shortest paths between all other units. A unit is considered to be central
42 43

Map 1 is visualized in Figure 6. For a list of the world cities see 31. Map 2 is visualized in Figure 8. 44 The source and reference files form the basis for the analysis in PAJEK. 45 U is the collection of all units y and d(x,y) is the length of the shortest path between the unit of interest x and the other units y of the network.

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when it lies on the shortest path connecting all other units of the network. This is expressed by a high relative betweenness centrality. The betweenness centrality for unit x is calculated in PAJEK as follows: ( )

As a measure for prestige the hub weight (H) is calculated for the relevant units. The hub weight indicates how good a hub a given unit is. It gives an idea of the quality of the unit in directing to other units. A unit with a high hub weight value is a good hub. The hub weight for unit x is calculated in PAJEK via the eigenvector46 - AAT - of the matrix for this network. ( ) ( )

46

Or non-zero vectors, i.e. all vectors for a unit which do not start and finish in one and the same unit.

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IV. Qualitative analysis

IV.1. IV.1.1. Situating the research case Kempten and Memmingen, small Bavarian cities

Kempten and Memmingen are located in the Government District of Swabia 47 (Schwaben), in the South-West of the German state of Bavaria. Swabia borders the German state of Baden-Wrttemberg in the West and Austria in the South48. Kempten as well as Memmingen are independent cities, meaning that they have own jurisdiction comparable to that of the German Districts.49 Amongst other competences, they are responsible for revitalization of the economy and encouraging of tourism. With a population size of approximately 62 000 and 41 000 inhabitants, both cities comply with the definition for small cities.

Figure 3 - The location of Kempten and Memmingen within Germany. (Own illustration on basis of
Creative Commons Licence)

Being situated on the edge of the European Blue Banana, Kempten and Memmingen are centrally located between the metropolitan areas of the world cities of Munich, Stuttgart and Zurich. 50 In socio-economic terms, Bayern is considered to be one of the wealthier states in Germany (Eurostat, 2009a) and has a low unemployment rate (5,1% in 2010). Kempten and Memmingen show similar
47

Figure 4 - The administrative system in Germany. (Liuzzo, 2006) Used

under Creative Commons License

Or Schwaben. In Germany, levels 2 and 3 of the European NUTS regions coincide with respectively the Regierungsbezirke(Government districts) and Landkreise (Districts). See Eurostat, 2010b. 48 See Figure 3, p.27. 49 See Figure 4, p.27. 50 See also Figure 2, p.20. Zurich is labeled as an Alpha world city, Munich a Beta world city and Stuttgart a Gamma world city. (GaWC, 2010) Munich is the capital of the German state of Bavaria, Stuttgart is the capital of the German state of Baden-Wrttemberg and Zurich is the capital of the Swiss canton of Zurich..

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characteristics of high GDP/capita and low unemployment.51

Population
(31.12.2010) (2009, Bayern = 100)

GDP / 52 capita

Unemploy -ment 53 rate (2010)

Organizational orientation Administrative

54

Regional development and planning Allgu region

Economic

Kempten

62 060

122

5,2%

Bavaria, Regierungsbezirk Schwaben

Oberzentrum for the Allgu region Oberzentrum for the Southern part of the Danube55 Iller region

Memmingen

41 025

139

5,3%

Danube-Iller region

Table 9 - Basic facts for Kempten and Memmingen.

The area in which both cities are located, also known as the Allgu56, is described by Eurostat (2009b) as a predominantly rural region, close to a city. Within Germany, the Allgu is a well known tourist region. Kempten is the Oberzentrum, or Regional Center, for the Allgu. Being centrally located within the Allgu region, Kemptens related hinterland of 500 000 inhabitants coincides with the Allgu region (Allgu-Initiative, s.d.a; Regionaler Plannungsverband Allgu, 2007). Memmingen is one out of two Regional Centers55 for the Danube-Iller region and has a hinterland of 261 000 people, located in the southern part of this region (Allgu-Initiative, s.d.a; Regionalverband Donau-Iller, 1987). For its economic development however, Memmingen is in actual terms strongly orientated towards the Allgu region due to the attractiveness of the Allgu brand which is seen as a powerful tool for promoting Memmingen in the rest of Germany as well as in foreign countries (Interviewd). Both Kempten and Memmingen are shareholders of the Allgu-Initiative, an organization set up in 1995 to jointly manage and coordinate the (economic) development for the Allgu region. One of its focal points is the representation of the Allgu as a strong brand (AllguInitiative GbR, 1999).

51 52

See Table 9, p.16 (IHK Schwaben, 2010) 53 (Bayerisches Landesamt fr Statistik und Datenverarbeitung, s.d.) 54 Based on corresponding official administrative arrangements. 55 The twincenter Ulm/Neu-Ulm is the Oberzentrum for the Northern part of the Danube-Iller region (Regionalverband Donau-Iller, 1987). 56 The Allgau includes the Bavarian districts of Oberallgu, Unterallgu, Ostallgu and Lindau and the BadenWrttembergian district of Ravensburg.

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IV.1.2.

The Allgu Airport Memmingen

Located in the municipality of Memmingerberg, the Allgu Airport of Memmingen is situated less than four km out of Memmingens city center. With the junction of highways A96 and A7 and the railway station of Memmingen nearby, the airport is easy accessible from Bavaria and Baden-Wrttemberg. The airport only recently (i.c. 2004) received authorization as a civil regional passenger airport from the Federal Office of Aviation for South Bavaria. Between its construction in 1935/36 and the restructuring of the German armed forces in 2001, it was operated as a military base (Allgu Airport GmbH, 2008). With the foundation of the Allgu Airport GmbH & Co. KG in 2002, the conversion into a civil airport began and in 2007 regular flight operations for passenger traffic started with TUIFly, a German charter and low-cost airline company (Allgu Airport GmbH, 2008). The strategic partnership between TUIFly and AirBerlin in 2009 directly influenced flight operations of the Allgu Memmingen Airport. AirBerlin took over the city flights network of TUIFly and sequentially restructured the domestic flight network. From March 2010 on, domestic flights to Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg and Bremen were no longer scheduled at the Allgu Airport Memmingen (Airberlin.com, 2009; Allgu Airport GmbH & Co. KG, 2010b). As a result, in 2011 the Allgu Airport Memmingen only offered international flight connections. With the exception of Antalya, Turkey, all destinations are located on the European continent. More than half of them are situated in the Mediterranean area and 8 destinations have the status of GaWC Passengers Business Private world city.57 As shown in Table 10, around one third of the passengers on these domestic flights had business purposes, against 6% of the passengers on international flights to London and Dublin (Bauer, 2009)58.
Domestic flights Incoming Outgoing International flights 29% 34% 6% 71% 66% 94%

Table 10 - Travel purposes of passengers on domestic and international flights (Bauer, 2009).

Both in terms of destinations as in passenger numbers, Ryanair is the main airline company currently operating from the Allgu Airport Memmingen (Allgu Airport GmbH & Co. KG, 2010a, 2011).

57 58

I.c. Barcelona, Edinburgh, Kiev, London, Oslo, Porto, Rome and Stockholm. See also Table 11, p.16. Passenger interviews were taken at Allgu Airport Memmingen between July 2008 and September 2009 (Bauer, 2009).

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Airline Ryanair

Destinations Alicante, Alghero, Barcelona/Girona, Barcelona/Reus, Dublin, Edinburgh, Faro, London, Malaga, Oslo/Rygge, Palma de Mallorca, Pisa, Porto, Rome, Stockholm/Skavsta, Trapani, Valencia Belgrade, Kiev Lourdes Palma de Mallorca Naples Calvi Antalya Heraklion Naples Antalya

Wizz Air Adria Airways Air Berlin Air Italy FlyNIKI Germania Hello Intersky Sunexpress

Table 11 - Airlines operating on the Allgu Airport Memmingen and their destinations(Allgu Airport Memmingen, s.d.).

The Allgu Airport GmbH & Co. KG, the company in charge of airport operations on the Allgu Airport Memmingen, has a dominantly private character as is illustrated by its composition of shareholders. All together 70 out of the companies 71 shareholders59 are limited partners, most of them small and middle sized companies (Allgu Airport Memmingen, s.d.b, 2011). Consequently, the airports first goal is economically, or as stated accordingly during one of the interviews; in the first place [the airport] has to make money (Interviewc). As a common goal of promoting the region of the Allgu, predominantly as a good tourist destination, is considered to be beneficial for both the airport company and other partners in the Allgu, collaboration between these partners is starting to emerge. The Allgu region however, is only a part of the passenger catchment area for the Allgu
59

Figure 5 - Passenger catchment area for the Allgu Airport Memmingen. Own calculations on the basis of data from (x, 2010). Own
illustration under Creative Commons License.

Situation April 2011 (Allgu Airport GmbH & Co. KG, 2008).

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Airport Memmingen. Based on analysis of the county prefix on license plates of cars parked at the car park of the airport60, it is clear that the airport is used by passengers with origins in West-Bavaria, Baden-Wurttemberg and as far as Switzerland and Austria.61

IV.2.

Geographical framing of Kempten and Memmingen

Situating Kempten and Memmingen as cities in Bavaria, Germany gives a first, but limited, representation of the actual geographic framing of these cities. More relevant is how these cities exist geographically within the minds of its inhabitants and users, giving us insights on the size of the region in which these cities operate and on the relations and processes within this region.

IV.2.1.

The regional network of Kempten and Memmingen

With the use of cognitive mapping, the framework for such regional representation is constructed on the basis of experiences and insights of people involved 62. This framework is interpreted as a network, containing units or nodes, i.e. settlements deemed important for the region, and relations, i.e. relevant infrastructural traffic connections between these settlements. In this project, the resulting regional network is constructed from point of view of people related to the cities of Kempten and Memmingen63 and as such represents the regional network relevant for these cities64. Analysis of this network is consequently an analysis of the regional network of Kempten and Memmingen and gives an insight in the geographical framing of both cities. The resulting regional network for Kempten and Memmingen is represented in Figure 6. Relevant cities , the units of the network, are represented with dots. Relevant connections with lines. Three dimensions65 can be distinguished on the basis of: - distance towards the center of the network, - dominant modes of transportation used, and - infrastructural level of the connections between units of the network.
60 61

Quarterly Car park statistics for 2010 (x, 2010). See Figure 5, p.30. 62 Basic information retrieved from the cognitive maps from Interviewa, Interviewb, Interviewc and Interviewd. 63 Cf. III.3.3.2, p.22. 64 Cf. Map 1 in III.3.4, p. 23. 65 See Figure 7, p.33.

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Figure 6 The regional network, representation of the perceived situation (Own illustration in PAJEK).

66

These dimensions are: IV.2.1.1. The local dimension

The local dimension refers to the area surrounding the cities of Kempten and Memmingen which expands for +/- 50 km out of both cities. It encompasses the agglomerations Ulm/Neu-Ulm and, although considered less relevant for the regional network, Augsburg in the North, Buchloe and Kaufbeuren in the East and Fussen, Oberstdorf and Lindau in the South. Within the local dimension, dominant modes of transportation are car and train. Local railways, local roads and the A7 and A96 highways form the infrastructural backbone connecting the units. Not surprisingly, being centers of their own regional network, Kempten and Memmingen form the main (transport)hubs within this dimension. IV.2.1.2. The meso dimension

The meso dimension is the supra-local dimension and is fixed between the local dimension and the outer boundary set by the three surrounding metropolitan areas Munich, Stuttgart and Zurich. It encompasses parts of Austria and Northern-Italy and stretches out to a roughly 150 km radius around the center of the regional network. The meso-dimension of the regional network has trans-boundary characteristics, as it progresses towards the German state of Baden-Wrttemberg and into Switzerland and Austria.

66

Cf. III.3.5, p. 24.

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Similarly to the local dimension, car and train are the dominant modes for transportation. However the infrastructure used for travelling towards locations in this dimension are (high speed)trains and highways. As such, the infrastructural backbone is formed by the railway connections MunichZurich and MunichStuttgart and the A7 and A96 highways. IV.2.1.3. The macro dimension

The macro dimension encompasses those locations of the regional network which are not part of the responding local or meso dimension. Within the macro dimension of the regional network of Kempten and Memmingen, national as well as international references are made to world cities such as Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, Kiev, London, Moscow, Oslo and Stockholm and regions and countries such as the Balkan-region, UK/Ireland, Spain/Portugal, Italy, the rest of the Mediterranean area, Poland, Asia (China included), Japan, USA and the United Arab Emirates. The dominant mode of transportation is air traffic. As such, the Allgu Airport Memmingen and the Munich Airport operate as main traffic hubs for the region. While at first hand it may seem odd finding Berlin, Cologne and Hamburg in the international dimension of the regional network, their importance as centers for tourism induced traffic towards the Allgu explains their presence. Furthermore, as addressed earlier, these cities were until recently connected to the Allgu Airport Memmingen via direct flights.

Figure 7 Dimensions of the regional network (Own illustration).

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IV.2.1.4.

Hubs, connecting the dimensions of the regional network

Within the regional network, certain units function as nodes connecting the different composing dimensions. Such connecting nodes often are located at the boundaries of dimensions (e.g. Ulm and Munich). But also units in the local dimension of the regional network can function as a hub (e.g. Allgu Airport Memmingen). Often, without stating it as an imperative characteristic, a shift between modes of transportation takes place in these locations. As a result, travelling from the local dimension to the international dimension is generally a multimodal operation. This is also illustrated in Figure 8, which represents preferred routes and modes of travelling towards a selection of destinations.

Figure 8 Overview of connections to a selection of world cities, representation of the perceived situation (Own illustration in 67 PAJEK).

IV.2.2.

The centrality of Kempten and Memmingen in the regional network

The location of Memmingen at the junction of the highways A7 and A96 and the rail connections Munich-Zurich and Ulm-Lindau is said to have advantageous qualities valued by economic actors, amongst which is the Allgu Airport Memmingen (Interviewc; Interviewd).

67

Cf. Map 2 in III.3.4., p.23. See also III.3.5, p.24.

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As a unit within the local and local-meso dimension of this specific network, there is no large difference between Kempten and Memmingen in terms of centrality.68 In fact, calculations in PAJEK of the centrality of Kempten and Memmingen as units in the regional network show that for the local dimension Kempten is more central than Memmingen. Consequently, Kempten can be seen as the local central node. This can be explained by Kemptens central geographic location in the local dimension of the regional network, as a result of which it is located more central to and in between with the other units of the local dimension of the network when compared to Memmingen which is located in the northern tip of that same dimension. When comparing the centrality measures for the combination of local and meso dimension of the regional network, differences in centrality for both cities become less significant. Memmingen becomes more important in terms of centrality, in the factual situation as well as in the perception of users and inhabitants of Kempten and Memmingen. In other words, within the regional network, Memmingen plays an important role connecting the local dimension with the meso and ultimately the macro level dimensions. This explains why Memmingen is often referred to as the local gate to the Allgu. The same conclusion can be made when considering the total regional network. Again Memmingen, as a unit within the network, has a higher centrality than Kempten.
All closeness centrality Perceived situation Local dimension Local + meso dimension Meso dimension
70 69

Betweenness centrality Kempten Memmingen 0,029 0,018 0,075 0,038 0,057 0,044

Hub weights Kempten Memmingen 0,530 0,499 0,457 0,414 0,450 0,468

Kempten 0,177 0,214 0,170 0,433 Kempten 0,195 0,214 0,170 0,421

Memmingen 0,162 0,205 0,178 0,524 Memmingen 0,162 0,224 0,198 0,595

Full network Factual situation Local dimension Local + meso dimension Meso dimension Full network

0,210 0,494 Kempten Memmingen 0,010 0,042 0,005 0,112 0,025 0,017 0,009 0,134

0,300 0,593 Kempten Memmingen 0,546 0,248 0,221 0,046 0,445 0,347 0,343 0,206

Table 12 - Centrality measures for Kempten and Memmingen (Own calculations in PAJEK).

An important factor explaining the growing difference in centrality is the Allgu Airport Memmingen which functions as a node connecting the local and meso levels to the macro dimension of the regional network.
68 69

See Table 12, p.35. The PAJEK datafile for this dimension contained data for all the nodes and relations in the meso dimension of the network as well as the relevant nodes and relations connecting Kempten and Memmingen to this meso dimension. 70 Full network refers to the combination of local, meso and macro levels of the regional network.

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Centrality analysis of three different scenarios implemented on the regional network discussed, show the role air traffic infrastructure has for the connectivity of both Kempten and Memmingen.71 Centrality calculations for the entire regional network show that without air connections the centrality of both cities significantly declines. This illustrates the function airports have in regional framing. Without the Allgu Airport Memmingen the central character of Memmingen as a unit in the regional network declines drastically. Furthermore, based on the calculated centrality measures, without the airport Memmingen and Kempten are perceived to be equally close to the other units of the regional network. In the actual situation for this scenario however, Memmingen is still more central in terms of closeness.
All closeness centrality Perceived situation - Allgu Airport Memmingen - air connections + domestic flights Allgu Airport Memmingen Factual situation - Allgu Airport Memmingen - air connections + domestic flights Allgu Airport Memmingen Kempten 0,433 0,299 0,218 0,454 0,421 0,370 0,250 0,433 Betweenness centrality Hub weights Memmingen 0,593 0,444 0,508 0,611 0,206 0,120 0,205 0,236

Memmingen Kempten 0,524 0,210 0,299 0,218 0,559 0,595 0,497 0,289 0,619 0,130 0,083 0,217 0,112 0,106 0,060 0,113

Memmingen Kempten 0,494 0,300 0,105 0,071 0,548 0,134 0,046 0,035 0,154 0,376 0,417 0,277 0,046 0,032 0,072 0,050

Table 13 - Centrality measures for Kempten and Memmingen for four different scenarios (Own calculations in PAJEK).

During the interviews, it became clear that the loss of the air connection with the NorthGerman cities of Hamburg and Berlin was deemed an important incident. Centrality measures indeed show an increased connectivity for both cities for the scenario including these domestic air connections. As they provide the local dimension with extra options for directly addressing the macro dimension, the local dimension becomes less dependent on the world cities in the meso dimension. As a result, in the regional network discussed, Memmingen gains importance as a node connecting the local with the macro dimension.

71

See Table 13, p.36. These calculations were made with the social network analysis software PAJEK. The source file for the total regional network was altered according to the characteristics of the different scenarios. -Allgu Airport Memmingen indicates that the air connections for the Allgu Airport Memmingen are excluded from calculations, - air connections indicates that all air connections are excluded from calculations. In the scenario + domestic flights Allgu Airport Memmingen the domestic air connections towards Hamburg and Berlin are included in the calculations for the whole of the regional network. See chapter III for more methodological aspects.

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IV.2.3.

Geographic orientation within the regional network

Looking at the local level of the regional network, the Allgu region is dominantly present. With exception of Ulm, Augsburg and Buchloe, the units of the local dimension all are located within the Allgu region. On the meso level, Munichs prominent role within the network is clear from the interviews, the visualization of the network72 and in the potential routes towards 12 European world cities obtained by the interviewees73. Linking the local and meso dimensions with the networks macro dimension, Munich operates as a connecting node within the regional network. In this, the airport of Munich plays an important role. And while both Stuttgart and Zurich also have an international airport with an almost identical offer for air traffic, these world cities do not have the same function within the network as Munich has.

IV.3.

The economic landscape of Kempten and Memmingen

With the strong association of the Allgu with tourism, especially with domestic tourism74 highly present in travel brochures and advertisement, it is easy to assume that tourism is the dominant economic activity for the region to which both Kempten and Memmingen are economically oriented. However, as illustrated next, this is not the case.

IV.3.1.

The economic sectors75

As is common in many European economies, the tertiary sector has the biggest share in the economy of the Allgu region both in terms of Gross Value Added76, or GVA, and employment77. With 25%, the sub sector for Trade, Hotel & restaurant and Tansport forms an important part of the service economy. And with an estimated 12% contribution tourism certainly has a role to play in the Allgu economy. The industrial sector however is accountable for 39% of the regions GVA. Compared to Swabia and to Bavaria, industry has a more prominent economic role in the Allgu. Important industrial activities in the Allgu are amongst others mechanical

72 73

See Figure 6, p.32 and Figure 7, p.33. See Figure 8, p.34. 74 It was estimated that 90% - 95% of the tourists in the Allgu come from within Germany itself (Interviewa). However official data suggests that around 18% of the tourists in 2010 have foreign origins. (Bayerisches Landesamt fr Statistik und Datenverarbeitung, 2011) 75 Extensive data regarding shares of the economic sectors is presented in Appendix 9. 76 See Figure 9, p.38. 77 See Figure 12, p.41.

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engineering, food industry, metallurgy and plastics (IHK, 2010; Interviewa; Interviewb). In general these industrial activities are concentrated in the urban areas.

Figure 9 - Shares of economic sectors in total GVA for 2008 (own calculations and illustration on basis of Bayerisches Landesamt fr 78 Statistik und Datenverarbeitung, s.d.) .

A clear distinction between Kempten and Memmingen is apparent in the shares of sectors of the economy, indicating a functional division for both cities. Memmingen has a strong industrial share. Kempten is dominated by services.79 Kempten is addressed as administrative, service and educational centre for the Allgu, while Memmingen is seen as industrial and logistical centre (Allgu-Initiative, s.d.). The touristic strongholds are located in the southern part of the Allgu, around Oberstdorf and Fussen. This functional division is confirmed in the interviews (Interviewa).
Branch Industry Automotive industry Construction industry Chemical industry Electro technology and Electronics Energy technology Food industry Aerospace and satellite industry Engineering Services Financial services Information and communication technology Logistic Media Sciences and research Technology and business centers 3 0 5 5 0 1 1 7 7 15 3 1 11 14 8 6 3 13 2 22 5 11 2 6 6 7 2 18 Memmingen Kempten

Table 14 Number of companies in economical branches (on the basis of Bayern International, s.d.).
78

As the regional network corresponds to the Bavarian part of the Allgu, the data represented here under Allgu refers to data for the Bavarian landkreise of Oberallgu, Unterallgu, OstAllgu and Lindau. Data for the Landkreis Ravensburg in Baden-Wurttemberg are not taken into account. 79 See Figure 9, p.38 and Table 14, p.42.

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This functional division returns in data showing the evolution of the shares of sectors in total GVA for the period 20002008.80 While in Kempten the service sector grew, in Memmingen the industry showed an increase in share. However in both cities the share of the sub sector financial services and service provision, often associated with the economic activities within the world city network, grew.

Figure 10 - Evolution of sector shares in total GVA for 2000-2008 (own calculations and illustration on basis of Bayerisches Landesamt 78 fr Statistik und Datenverarbeitung, s.d.) .

Between 2007-2009, the Swabian service sector experienced a strong growth. Especially the growth in Memmingen is remarkable, as its service sector experienced a decline in the years before.81 With no data available, it is not clear whether specialized services showed a similar evolution. The share for Trade, Hotel & restaurant and Transport more or less stayed unaltered. Only in Memmingen a small growth is registered.
2007-2009 Industry Bayern Schwaben Allgau
2

Services Trade, Hotel & restaurant, transport 0,1% 10,1% 4,6% 2,7% 4,2% -0,2% 0,6% 0% -0,4% 1,5%

-3,9% -4,5% -4,3% -2,7% -4,2%

Kempten Memmingen

Table 15 - Evolution in share of sectors in total GVA for 2007-2009 (own calculations and illustration on basis of Bayerisches Landesamt 78 fr Statistik und Datenverarbeitung, s.d.) .

As in the general perception of people, tourism is considered to be of main importance for the Allgu region, it is worthwhile giving it a closer look.
80 81

See Figure 10, p.39. See Table 15, p.38.

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While official data suggests a significantly lower share74, around 90-95% of the tourists visiting the Allgu are said to be of German origin. Fact is that the tourism market for the Allgu has an important domestic character and within Germany, the Allgu is considered to be one of the main touristic regions for domestic tourism. A significant share of this domestic tourist market is said to be located in Northern-Germany (Interviewa; Interviewb: Interviewc). Good air connections from Hamburg and Berlin are believed to have increased domestic tourism from these regions as the annual frequency with which people travelled towards the Allgu multiplied with the possibility to travel by airplane (Interviewc). With no data available, this claim is difficult to support. However, data from the passenger research at the Allgu Airport Memmingen show that 60% of the domestic passengers previously have made the same journey by car, train or bus (Bauer, 2009). As such, the loss of these domestic air connections will potentially have at least some impact on domestic tourism towards the Allgu. With neither Memmingen nor Kempten considered to be strong touristic city destinations, the impact of tourism on their economy is relative small. The city of Memmingen however tries to maximize yields from the tourism flow towards the Allgu, relying on the combination of a strong Allgu brand and the nearby presence of the Allgu Airport Memmingen (Interviewa). Looking at the 23% increase in guest nights between 2004 and 2009 (of which 16% between 2006 and 2009), it is clear that there are some positive effects. Especially when compared to the negative evolution in the surrounding district of Unterallgu (-2%) and compared to the city of Kempten (+5%) and its surrounding district of Oberallgu (+20%) this evolution is apparent.82

IV.3.2.

Employment

Kemptens and Memmingens unemployment rate closely follows the Bavarian fluctuations of the last decade and are low when compared to the rest of Germany.83

82 83

See Appendix 10 See Figure 11, p.41.

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Evolution of unemployment rate

Unemployment rate (%) 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 '00 '01 '02 '03 '04 '05 '06 '07 '08 '09 '10
Figure 11 - Evolution of unemployment rates, 2000-2010 (own calculations and illustration on basis of Bayerisches Landesamt fr 78 Statistik und Datenverarbeitung, s.d.) .

Bayern Schwaben Allgau (- Stadtkreise) Kempten Memmingen

Providing work to 6 out of 10 employees, the service sector is the biggest employer in the Allgu. The industry is the second largest sector in terms of employment, but is losing share to the growing service sector.

Figure 12 - Shares of economic sectors in employment for 2009 (own calculations and illustration on basis of Bayerisches Landesamt fr 78 Statistik und Datenverarbeitung, s.d.) .

Differences in employment between Kempten and Memmingen show the characteristic differentiation of Kempten as a service center. With almost 8 out of 10 employees, the share of the service sector in Kempten is higher than in Memmingen. Between 2000 and 2007, the share of employment in the service sector grew both in Kempten and Memmingen. A strong growth was seen in the specialized services financing, leasing and service-provision, which entails over a fifth of the employment in the service sector of both cities. However, between 2007 and 2009 the share of these specialized services decreased.84

84

See Figure 13, p.42.

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Figure 13 Evolution in employment by sector for 2000-2009 (own calculations and illustration on basis of Bayerisches Landesamt fr 78 Statistik und Datenverarbeitung, s.d.) .

Memmingens location on the highway junction of the A7 and A96 highways and the railway junction is seen as ideal for logistics (Interviewd). While logistics is an important activity in Memmingen, its share in employment is lower than it is for the whole of Swabia. In contrast, Kemptens share of employment in logistics is more than 50% higher than the Swabian average. The same employment figures show an important presence of business-related services in Memmingen. In terms relative to the population this is almost double the share compared to Schwaben (IHK Schwaben, s.d.a). A similar conclusion can be made on the basis of the number of companies operating in financial servicing.85 The changeover of the Allgu Airport Memmingen from a military airport to a regional civil airport does not seem to have significantly changed related employment ratios. In general for the (immediate) region, no net loss of jobs is associated with this process, as most people working on the military base were military personnel and were reassigned to other locations when the base closed (Interviewa; Interviewc). A shift in type of economic branch can be observed. While in earlier times, the military airbase relied on the local economy for provision (Interviewd), more technically oriented economic branches are currently associated with the airport as it locates amongst others companies providing maintenance services and travel agencies (Interviewc).

IV.3.3.

The internationalization of the Allgu economy

With a large share of small and medium-sized companies operating in industry, tourism and services, the economic constitution of the Allgu shows a diversified economy. The wide variety of businesses makes the regions economy less vulnerable for economic instability,

85

See Table 14, p.36.

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providing it with a slow economic evolution and limiting excessive negative as well as positive economic fluctuations (Interviewb). This does not mean that Kemptens or Memmingens economies are isolated from the global economic network of the world city network. In many ways, both cities have economic relations expanding their economic landscape beyond the local dimension. In spite of the concentration of small and medium-sized companies, Kempten and Memmingen host several large companies as a ranking of cities86, ordering cities in function of the number of Germans 500 largest companies, illustrates. According to this list (i.e. top500.de), Kempten is home to 33 and Memmingen to 44 of these companies 86. A share amount of the large companies, such as amongst others Dachser87, Steca88 and Fendt 89, operate in an international context, either as partner in an international concern (e.g. Fendt as part of AGCO) or on individual basis (e.g. Dachser). Some of these large, internationally oriented companies are involved in projects which, by their impact on the regional network, influence the perception and orientation of the region in which they are located. The redevelopment of the Allgu Airport Memmingen is such a project.90 As a result, large international operating companies are actors in the regional framing of Kempten and Memmingen, determining its macro dimension as well as influencing the centrality of cities in the region.

86

(quality-Datenbank Klaus Gebhardt e.K. Germany, 2006) Quality-Datenbank Klaus Gebhardt e.K is a commercial company. 87 Dachser GmbH & Co. KG - http://www.dachser.com/de/en/index.htm 88 Steca, (Electronic services, solar Electronics and battery charging systems) - http://www.stecasolar.com/ 89 Fendt (Agricultural equipment, tractors)- http://www.fendt.com/int/default.asp 90 See Appendix 11 for an overview of the founding partners of the Allgu Airport Company GmbH & Co. KG.

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V. Discussion
V.1. The regional framing of Kempten and Memmingen 91

Data collected during the interviews form the basis for the regional framing of Kempten and Memmingen. The geographic delineation of the regional network is based on the cognitive maps of the interviewees. The regional network itself frames the analysis of the geographic and the economic framing of the non-airport city Kempten and the airport city Memmingen. Geographically, the regional network is structured in three dimensions; the local dimension, the meso dimension and the macro dimension. These dimensions are defined by their distance to the center of the respective network (i.c. Kempten and Memmingen), the dominant mode(s) of transportation and the level of infrastructure used for travelling. The local dimension of the regional network coincides largely with the Allgu, an area with a predominantly rural character (Eurostat, 2009). The meso dimension is determined by the three metropolitan areas of Munich, Stuttgart and Zurich, surrounding the Allgu. The macro dimension expands all over Europe. Strong national links exist within the regional network; Munich is a main orientation point within the network and there are strong connections with Northern-Germany. Nevertheless, international links also exists with world cities like London, Stockholm and Kiev. The geographic characteristics of the dimensions are represented in detail in IV.2.1. The structuring of the regional network according to these dimensions offers a way to address the different levels of connectivity and economic interaction present within the regional network and to identify and characterize relevant processes and actors involved in the framing of small and medium-sized cities within the world city network.
Geographic characteristics Local dimension Coincides largely with the Allgu and to a lesser extent with the wider government district of Schwaben. Infrastructural backbone: local highways, roads and railways. Central location: Kempten. Functional diversification: Kempten is Economic characteristics Memmingen is officially part of the planning region of Danube-Iller region, Kempten of the planning region of the Allgu. Both Kempten and Memmingen actual orientation goes towards the Allgu.

91

Unless indicated otherwise, the phrase regional network refers to the regional network of Kempten and Memmingen

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the administrative, educational and service center for the Allgu, Memmingen is an industrial center. Meso dimension Defined by the metropolitan areas of the world cities of Munich, Stuttgart and Zurich. Strongly orientated towards Munich, which functions as a connecting node towards the macro level. Infrastructural backbone: highways, (ICE) railways. Memmingen and Kempten are equally central. Macro dimension Reference to regions, countries as well as to world cities. Infrastructural backbone dominated by air connections. Munich and the Allgu Airport Memmingen are important nodes connecting the local and the meso level with the macro dimension. Important structuring role for multinational economic actors. Functional division in economic role: tourism business. Internationalization of companies. Emerging branding of the Allgu in the (non-domestic part of the) macro dimension. Due to the Allgu Airport Memmingen, the city of Memmingen gains regional importance as a connecting node to the macro dimension. Munich is the main point for orientation, both in terms of competition (e.g. employment) as in terms of facilitating economic development. Memmingen gains regional importance due to its role as local gateway towards the meso dimension.

Table 16 - Characteristics of the local, meso and macro dimension of the regional network of Kempten and Memmingen.

V.2.

Economic orientation of Kempten and Memmingen

With a large share of small and medium-sized companies operating in industry, tourism and services, the economic constitution of the Allgu shows a diversified and relatively stable economy. In many ways, Kemptens and Memmingens economies are connected to the economic network of the world city network, expanding their economic landscape beyond the local dimension.

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V.3.

Competition and cooperation within the local and the meso dimension

On the urban level, Kempten and Memmingen follow the logic of their own economic structure. Kempten orients itself as administrative and service center for the Allgu region. The city promotes itself as business location, amongst other things, by way of rankings such as the Stdteranking 201092 (Interviewb). Memmingen represents itself, amongst other things, as gateway towards the Allgu and refers to the Allgu brand and the regional airport Allgu Airport Memmingen, located just outside the city, in an attempt to increase tourist overnights (Interviewd). The spatial distribution of functions suggests an economic balance existing within the regional network. However this balance is function of many structural and organizational factors which affect both competitive and cooperative relations on local as well as meso level of the regional network.

V.3.1.

Branding the Allgu

With the strong association of the Allgu with tourism, it is of little surprise there is a strong collaboration within the region to support, strengthen and distribute the brand value of the Allgu. The attractiveness of the Allgu brand situates itself in geographical terms mainly within Germany, as the domestic market for tourism is of main importance for the region. Recently, the scope for promoting the Allgu is extended to foreign markets, such as the UK, as a result of the increased international connectivity via the Allgu Airport Memmingen (Interviewc).

V.3.2.

Labor market competition

With a functional division of economic activities between Kempten and Memmingen, economic competition between both cities seems to take place on the level of employment. With structural low unemployment rates, finding qualified employees is said to be difficult in the Allgu, Kempten and Memmingen. However, more than being a result of local processes, competition on the labor market is consequence of the nearby presence of Munich. As a world city with a wide cultural offer and home too many prestigious companies, Munich is a strong attraction pole for (highly educated) employees. As a result, people preferentially look towards Munich for jobs (Interviewa; Interviewd).
92

In the Stdteranking 2010 Kempten takes 9 place in a ranking of 100 most populous German urban districts on the base of indicators regarding employment, social affairs and economy (Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Kln Consult GmbH, 2010).

th

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Competition in terms of employment is therefore more a characteristic of the local/meso dimension than it is a local quality.

V.3.3.

The attraction of the world city brand

The relation with the meso dimension is however more subtle, as world cities are also said to induce spill-over effects towards their hinterland. With Munich as economic world centre in the meso dimension located 100 km east of the Allgu, its distance to the region is however said to reduce such effects (Interviewb). However, while this may be the case in general terms, Munichs influence on the facilitation of economic activity is evident for specific cases as can be illustrated for the Allgu Airport Memmingen. Being a brand with global standing, the adjacency of the world city of Munich offers opportunities for economic development. Alternatively named Memmingen, Munich West by Ryanair, the Allgu Airport Memmingen takes advantages of the nearby presence of Munich in order to attract extra passengers93 which may potentially visit Kempten and Memmingen (Interviewa; Interviewc).

V.3.4.

Infrastructure, burden or relief

Infrastructure is understood to direct the functional orientation within the region. Having a good connectivity is often related to beneficial effects on economy. Memmingens location on the junction of several highways and railways is considered to be advantageous for the citys economy, not the least for activities in the logistical sector. Because of its location on this traffic node, Memmingen is consequently referred to as transport and logistical hub for the Southern part of Germany (Allgu-Initiative, s.d.), which is illustrative for its connecting role between the regional and meso dimension of the regional network. As result of its central location in the Allgu, Kempten functions as a regional hub for the local dimension. As is clear from the geographical framing, the regional network has a strong orientation towards Munich as the world city offers many connections to the macro level of the regional network and functions as a hub for business as well as for private travelling.94 As such, having a good connectivity towards Munich may offer economic advantages. Centrality measures show no strong differences between Kempten and Memmingen regarding connectivity within the local and meso level of the regional network. Also the level of
93

Good travel connections from Memmingen to Munich and an average lower boarding time compared to the international airports of Munich or Stuttgart, makes the airport an attractive alternative for travelling directly to these airports (Interviewc). 94 Allgu Airport Memmingen has a similar function as will be discussed further in V.8., p.53.

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infrastructural connections towards Munich within these levels is more or less evenly matched. Future projects, such as the electrification of the railway Munich-Lindau-Zurich, may however alter this. As a result of this project, Memmingen, situated on this route, will have a (qualitatively) better connectivity with the world cities of Munich and Zurich. Furthermore, as this electrification takes place under the impulse of the NEAT-project95, the connectivity of Memmingen will expand geographically as easy and fast connections to the world city of Milan will be assured. As such, the importance of Memmingen in connecting the local dimension of the regional network with its meso and eventually its macro dimension will increase further.

V.4.

Understanding the economic impact

The combination of branding of the Allgu and opening the touristic markets towards foreign travelers has a good potential to increase tourism towards the Allgu. As neither Memmingen nor Kempten are generally considered to be strong touristic locations, strong efforts however are necessary to increase tourism in these cities. Memmingen already is actively promoting itself, trying to increase tourist overnights. With the relative small share of the touristic sector compared to industry, its impact on the citys economy will probably be limited. Less certain is the role an increased connectivity with the meso and macro dimension will have in the economic orientation of the region and of the cities of Kempten and Memmingen. For the Allgu Airport Memmingen, the high speed train connection may potentially increase its attractiveness as alternative for the airports of Munich, Stuttgart, Zurich or Friedrichshafen. With a shortened travel time towards the airport, in combination with other trumps such as short boarding time, the airport may eventually even become more attractive for Swiss passengers. As the distance to most of the offered destinations exceeds the 500 km range, the competition with high speed rail will probably be limited. 96 For the Allgu and more specifically for the cities of Kempten and Memmingen, the increased connectivity opens up the potential for travelling towards the region. Again a short travel time makes it more attractive for people and companies to settle within the region. However, it also makes travelling out of the region towards the metropolitan centers in a speedy and comfortable way easier for employees as well as for tourists arriving at the Allgu Airport Memmingen. Without incentives for tourists to visit Memmingen or Kempten,
95

NEAT stands for Neue Eisenbahn-Alpentransversale. With the completion of this trans-Alpine railway, high speed trains can travel from Munich over Memmingen to Switzerland and Milan. (See also http://www.bls.ch/d/infrastruktur/neat.php) 96 See Park and Ha (2006).

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there is nothing to prevent them for immediately travelling further towards the Allgu region, Munich or other touristic attractive regions after embarking in the Allgu Airport Memmingen.

V.5. V.5.1.

The macro dimension Tourism

The macro dimension of the regional network is both origin and destination for tourism. In terms of economic development of the Allgu and of Kempten and Memmingen, incoming tourism is most interesting due to its economic role for the local dimension. In essence, tourism relies on accessibility and as such on connectivity. In order to be successful as tourism region, good connections between the tourist catchment area and the tourist destination are vital. As such, the experienced loss of flight connections will potentially slow down growth of domestic tourism in the area. With the start of the promotion of the Allgu area as touristic area abroad, a new market is being tapped. However, such promotion is an extensive process and requires substantial efforts from all partners involved. It takes time and money to build and promote the Allgu as a foreign brand. With a recent kick-off of such branding efforts, potential effects are not likely to be quickly imminent. Second, the costs and efforts related with such branding, needs a certain stability of targets approached. Volatility in, for example, air traffic connectivity is not conducive for the establishment of the Allgu as a touristic region in countries abroad. As events with Air Berlin in 2010 clearly shows, air connections exist by the grace of air companies. Both the Allgu Airport GmbH as well as other regional actors involved, has to be attentive to preserve the attractiveness of the airport in order to make full use of its potential for the touristic sector of the area and its cities.

V.5.2.

Internationalization of companies

An important economic relation between the cities of Kempten and Memmingen and the macro dimension of the regional network is found in business relations between the local and the meso dimension and the macro dimension. With the globalization of the economy, the internationalization of companies, understood as the entry of companies in foreign markets, is considered to be one of the most important economic developments for the Allgu in the last decade, not in the least because of the positive impact on employment. In

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some cases, companies rooted in the Allgu region were taken over by foreign companies97, in other cases the locally rooted companies expanded and started to operate on international scale. Good connectivity with the companies macro dimension facilitates the face-to-face contacts, valued largely in business. Being company specific, this macro dimension is not necessarily similar to the macro dimension of the regional network discussed. However, especially for the infrastructural backbone and the connecting nodes of the local and meso dimension, the regional networks is likely to coincide in a large extent. Providing connections to several world cities, such as London, Stockholm, Kiev amongst others, the Allgu Airport Memmingen also functions as a node connecting local businesses to the macro dimension. The loss of the air connections with Hamburg and Berlin negatively affected this connectivity. Analysis of the purposes of air passengers suggest that, at least in relative terms, for business travel, the domestic air connections from the Allgu Airport Memmingen were more important than international flights. For intercontinental travelling, passengers use international airports such as Munich, Stuttgart or Zurich or London Heathrow to fly either directly to their destinations or to transfer flights. Striking is the international orientation of most of the founding partners of the Allgu Airport GmbH & Co. KG.98 Presumably a relation exists with the international character of the private partners involved. The scope of this research does however not provide a clear first grade insight in the motivations of the companies involved. It is clear that large international operating companies are actors in the regional framing of Kempten and Memmingen as they shape the macro dimension of the regional network. Their cross-border activities are driving forces, economically interconnecting places. As is illustrated with the Allgu Airport Memmingen, they also facilitate infrastructural connectivity and as such influence the centrality of cities in the regional network.

V.6.

Economic activities associated with the world city network

With the functional diversification clearly illustrated in Table 14, Kempten is, as a regional center within the regional network, associated with service economy. As Kempten is home to more companies operating in amongst others, media and ICT, the presence of companies offering financial service is however more concentrated in Memmingen. As financial services are often associated with economic activities of world cities, it is tempting to conclude that Memmingen is in economic terms as such more integrated in the
97 98

E.g. the tractor company Fendt, which was taken over by the AGCO group (Interview b). See Appendix 11

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world city network. As other companies offering service provision are more present in Kempten such a conclusion would clearly be an overstatement. However recent evolution does show a strong increase of such specialized services within Memmingen since 2007, suggesting a positive influence of the operationalisation of the Allgu Airport Memmingen as a regional civil airport. It is not clear if this young development continues after 2009, as data is not yet available. According to the perception of the people interviewed, there seems not to be a strong, if any, relation. Consequently, and considering the young history of the Allgu Airport Memmingen, any conclusion regarding a relation between the offer of specialized services and the presence of the regional airport has to be approached carefully.

V.7.

The role of world cities in the framing of Kempten and Memmingen

The analysis of the collected data regarding Memmingen and Kempten show that small and medium-sized cities indeed do orientate themselves towards the world city network, and this both in terms of geographical connectivity as in terms of economic activity. In this orientation, a functional differentiation is apparent between world cities in which vicinity these small cities are located, i.c. the world cities located in the meso level of the regional network, and world cities which are located in the macro dimension of the regional network.

V.7.1.

World cities within the local and the meso dimension

Analysis of the regional network indicates that adjacent world cities are (structural99) components of the regional network of small and medium-sized cities. In this; they potentially function as: 1. a node connecting the local dimension of the regional network outwards with the meso and macro dimension, 2. a marketing tool for attracting visitors to a location, 3. a competitor on the labor market diverting qualified employees by means of more attractive jobs (pay, image) and a richer cultural offer, 4. economic structures defining the orientation of regional economic development towards certain economic branches.100
99

It is not clear to what extent they solely define the structure of the regional network of small and mediumsized cities, or if this is a case specific characteristic.

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Centrally located in the middle of the metropolitan triangle composed of Munich, Stuttgart and Zurich, the cities of Kempten and Memmingen are dominantly oriented towards Munich. In the interviews and the related cognitive mapping exercises, this is not only emphasized in terms of infrastructural connectivity, also economically and culturally Munich is said to have a more prominent role than Stuttgart and Zurich. There are several motivations suggested for this orientation (Interviewa; Interviewb; Interviewc; Interviewd). These are related to: - administrative structure - Munich is the capital of the German state of Bavaria in which territory Kempten and Memmingen are located. - education - Institutes for higher education are located in Kempten, Augsburg and in Munich. - culture - Munich is a cultural hotspot. - brand - The name Munich represents a strong, widely known brand to which it is attractive to relate to. - economy - Munich is a leading economic center, locating many prominent companies. - infrastructure - Munich is, with many highways, an (inter)national railway junction and a prominent international airport, an infrastructural hub. The Bavarian identity seems to have a defining role in this orientation, directing mental orientation to the metropolitan area within the boundaries of the Bavarian state. Administrative borders, such as with the neighboring German state of Baden-Wrttemberg, function as mental borders (Interviewb).

V.7.2.

World cities and the macro level

World cities are dominantly present in the macro dimension of the regional networks. With their role structuring the economic activities in the world city network, this is no surprise. As small and medium-sized cities are locking themselves in this world city network, their connections ultimately go beyond the meso level. As discussed earlier, multinational corporations are important actors connecting into the world city network. As such, locally rooted companies with international connections are crucial for the way the macro dimension of the regional network is formed. Another driver organizing the macro level of the regional network of Kempten and Memmingen is tourism.

100

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Consequently, for the local dimension of the regional network world cities located in the macro dimension of the regional network function as: - locations with which economic relations exist on the level of multinational corporations, - markets for tourism towards the region, - hubs in the connective network.

V.8.

The role of airports in the framing of Kempten and Memmingen

Analysis of the type of connections that exist within the regional network indicates that the international dimension is predominantly connected by means of air transport. Airports, in this point of view, are nodes connecting the local and meso dimension with the, (inter)national, macro dimension of the regional network. As such they, potentially offer economic advantages for the local dimension of the regional network by connecting to economic activities of the macro dimension and, ultimately, the world city network.

V.8.1.

The Allgu Airport Memmingen and connectivity

Functioning as nodes connecting the local dimension to the macro dimension of the regional network, world cities are crucial elements for framing small and medium-sized cities into the world city network. However, this role within the regional network is not exclusively ascribed to world cities, as infrastructure located outside these world cities such as the Allgu Airport Memmingen shows. The centrality analysis of three scenarios which are implemented on the regional network as discussed in IV.2.2101 clearly indicates the role of the Allgu Airport Memmingen in the connectivity of the regional network for Kempten and Memmingen, and consequently for the framing of both cities into the world city network.

V.8.2.

The Allgu Airport Memmingen and urban economic development

With the Allgu Airport Memmingen, the area has a direct connection to locations spread out over Europe. With many references made in touristic brochures, it is clear that the airport is valued as an economic tool for inducing and strengthening tourism in the region. Analysis of the passenger interviews indicates that the airport is mainly used for private reasons, such as leisure and visiting friends and relatives (Bauer, 2009).
101

See also Table 13, p.45.

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As such, the main economic relevance of the regional airport for the Allgu and for the cities of Kempten and Memmingen is said to be in tourism (Interviewb; Interviewd). But as tourism represents only a relatively small part of the urban economies of Memmingen and Kempten, the airport is not believed to be very relevant to their economic development. Memmingen however, actively tries to increase tourist overnights by addressing the presence of the regional airport, and has seen a 23% increase in guest nights between 2004 and 2009. The concentration of financial services in Memmingen also attracts the attention. As these services are often associated with economic activities of world cities, it is tempting to conclude that Memmingen is in economic terms more integrated in the world city network. Recent developments do show a strong increase of such specialized services within Memmingen since 2007, suggesting some positive influence of the Allgu Airport Memmingen. Any conclusion regarding a relation between the offer of specialized services and the presence of the regional airport has to be considered with great care. After all, it is not clear if recent developments are result of the activities related to the local airport or if other conditions, such as for example the location of Memmingen on the traffic junction with highways and railways, have a more direct impact. As such, the actual impact of the regional airport is probably more related to processes which indirectly steer, facilitate and structure local economy, such as the previously discussed internationalization of companies. For the airport, the Allgu represents only a small part of the passenger catchment area for outgoing traffic. For incoming passenger traffic, the touristic interesting region of the Allgu is of bigger value for the airport. As in the end it is however the airline company who, on the basis of economic considerations, decides which airport they address, both the organization managing the airport, i.c. the Allgu Airport GmbH & Co. KG, and local organizations, administrative as well as private, have an important role in providing airline companies with attractive conditions. The win for the airport company, lies, with an increase in connections, in an increased passenger number. While potential gains for local organizations are less distinct, the related cost-benefit analysis is less evident. With the young history of the airport as a domestic and commercial airport (some processes influencing the urban economic development may just be in a starting phase), an actual and location specific cost-benefit evaluation is difficult to formulate.

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VI. Conclusion
VI.1. The role of the Allgu Airport Memmingen in the framing of Kempten and Memmingen into the world city network
Do airports influence the framing of small and medium-sized cities in the World city network? Are they useful tools for the economic development of such cities? Literature already suggests an important role for air traffic in the world city network as it facilitates interaction between people, goods and information. However, there are also indications that, like other boosterish strategies, airports are not just a guaranty for a successful economic development. In this research, the role of airports on the framing of small and medium-sized cities in the world city network is discussed for the airport city of Memmingen and the non-airport city of Kempten, both located in the same area in Bavaria, Germany. The research looks at the geographical and the economical aspects of the framing of these cities in the world city network. Cities orientate themselves within their regional network, i.e. the wider region within which there exists economic and infrastructural relations. Three dimensions can be distinguished within this regional network of the cities of Kempten and Memmingen, i.e. the local, the meso and the macro dimension. Each dimension has distinctive characteristics on the basis of distance, travel modes and traffic infrastructure. This regional network and its characteristics reflects the framing of these cities in their wider surroundings, as cities can fulfill different functions in each of these dimensions, and offers a tool for the discussion of the role of world cities and of airports in the framing of small and medium-sized cities in the world city network. Findings from the qualitative research, suggest that the role world cities have in the framing of the small cities of Kempten and Memmingen in the world city network is function of the dimensional functions. In this, world cities which are located in the local and/or the meso dimension of the regional network and are as such within reasonable distance of the city in question, i.c. Munich, Stuttgart and Zurich, function as a node which physically, via infrastructure, and economically, via labor, marketing and structural relations, connects the local dimensions with the meso and the macro-dimension of the regional network. Within this, a hierarchical dimension appears in which these small cities orient themselves to a dominant world city, i.c. Munich, a process in which identity-factors have a defining role.

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World cities in the macro dimension, i.c. London, Stockholm, Kiev, Rome amongst others, are connected to Kempten and Memmingen by economic relations of enterprises and by their function as hubs, connecting the local dimension further to the world city network. Functioning as nodes connecting the local dimension to the macro dimension of the regional network, world cities are crucial elements for framing small and medium-sized cities into the world city network. However, this role within the regional network is not exclusively ascribed to world cities. Airports such as the Allgu Airport Memmingen, as nodes in the regional network, also connect the local dimension to the, often international, macro dimension. As such, the economic role of the airport city of Memmingen grows as its connectivity increases. Cities with an initially lesser local importance can as such become more important as the dimensional scope widens. However, this is not limited to the presence of an airport, but is also relevant for other infrastructure, such as e.g. the high speed railway connection Munich-Zurich. As with an increased connectivity, the city of Memmingen and the related region of Swabia, and more specifically the Allgu, becomes more accessible, this can increase the citys incoming traffic as well as outgoing and transfer traffic. The widening of the regional network can be advantageous for tourism and for the internationalization of local companies. However, this does not necessarily mean that the city itself experiences economic development as it becomes as easy to travel to as to travel away from the city. And while there is evidence that the specialized service sector which is often related to the world city network is present in the airport city of Memmingen, they are present as well in the non-airport city of Kempten. As such it is clear that airports can increase the connectivity of small to medium-sized cities, but are not necessarily related to economic growth of the airport city. Answering the hypothesis stating that small to medium-sized airport are more tightly connected to other cities and are as such more tightly knitted into the global network then non-airport cities is therefore not straightforward. Situating an airport enlarges the regional network of a city and as such, with world cities part of the regional network, airport cities are more connected to the world city network. But this does not necessarily mean that airport cities are more knitted into the world city in economic terms. The economic impact of airports extends the local boundaries and is subject to the region in which the airport is located. As such, the surrounding region is actually a competitor for the airport city. Consequently, airports can be just one of many strategies cities can use for economic development, but it is a strategy which has to be tuned with all the relevant actors in the surrounding region.

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VI.2.

Discussing methodology and suggestions for further research

A general approach, such as the quantitative analysis in this research, does not give the insight needed to address the processes involved in the regional framing of airport cities. To learn about these processes, a qualitative approach offers the potential to generate a more thorough understanding of the processes and actors involved in the geographic and economic framing of the selected cities. As such, the methodological mix of the semi-structured interview and the cognitive mapping used for this study has proved valuable. The combination of techniques allowed a thorough discussion during the interviews and an analytical structuring of the resulting information. Especially the additional use of cognitive mapping as an interview technique was valued by both the interviewees and myself for structuring the complexity of the issue. Consequently, as a methodological test case, this research already proved to be valuable. The qualitative approach has a large focus on the cases addressed and as such on local conditions. While this may result in interesting findings, it is clear that these findings need to be confronted with other cases, to rule out the potential bias caused by case specific conditions. As such, with its sole focus on the case cities Kempten and Memmingen, this research has an unintentional, but nevertheless clear, shortage due to difficulties to arouse the Norwegian case cities interest to cooperate. To overcome potential case-specific conclusions and to widen the scope of the research, additional analyses of the geographic and economic framing of appropriate cases will improve the knowledge and insights in the framing of small and medium-sized cities in the world city network and the role of airports in these processes. As such, this research is one of potentially many to come. Additional, a further research addressing the motivations of the private partners of the Allgu Airport GmbH & Co. KG and the internationalization of local companies could subsequent clarify the potential of the Allgu Airport Memmingen in terms of generating business relations within the regional network of the cities of Kempten and Memmingen.

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VI.3.

Recommendations for policy

As discussed, airports can be (part of) a strategy for economic development. The economic catchment area of the airport however exceeds the local urban setting. To maximize the potential of the airport as a tool for economic development, cooperation between all the (regional) actors involved is important to improve the economic development of the related area and to find, develop and make full use of the strength of each individual partner. In the case discussed, branding the Allgu as an interesting tourist destination can open up new (international) markets for tourism in the Allgu. As such, it can affect tourism towards the cities of Kempten and Memmingen. However, as the main tourist region lies to the south of both cities, attracting tourists to these cities can be difficult and painstaking. A potential key for making successful use of the tourist traffic is to actively promote the urban trumps without openly competing with the touristic region of the Allgu. It is clear that the airport enlarges the regional network of the cities of Kempten and Memmingen as it provides the cities with transregional and transnational connections. Besides its potential for tourism in the Allgu region, this increased connectivity also offers opportunities for expanded business relations and internationalization of local businesses. However, the quality of the connective network is crucial for such economic development. In the case discussed, the domestic air connections are considered to be highly relevant for the Allgu and for Kempten and Memmingen. As in the end the airline company decides which airport is part of their network of destinations, they hold a key to develop the potential size of the regional network. Both the organization managing the airport as well as the administrative and private partners has to be aware of the role they have in providing airline companies with attractive conditions. As such, they have to actively engage in the management of their connectivity to the world city network by providing an attractive destination for passengers of the airline and by providing attractive and competitive conditions in order to attract the airline company to the respective airport. Besides the Allgu Airport Memmingen, also the metropolitan areas of Munich, Stuttgart and Zurich are factors in the framing of Kempten and Memmingen within the world city network. With the planned high speed rail connection with Munich and with Zurich and Milano, the importance of these world cities will increase. It is important to realize that these metropolitan areas can offer both advantages, such as a potential increase of active business relations with these areas, as well as disadvantages, such as an increased competition for qualified labor force and in attracting businesses to settle in Kempten and Memmingen.
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Similar to the comment related to tourism, Kempten and Memmingen should be aware of the risks of becoming a transfer area and should actively engage in the promotion of their economic strengths and their good living standards. In this their geographic location in the center of the triangle of Munich, Zurich and Stuttgart has the potential of being a risk as well as strength. One concrete suggestion to increase the attractiveness as a business location is to make full use of the potential of the area surrounding the Allgu Airport Memmingen by providing more, good accommodated and flexible business services in the immediate vicinity of the airport. As such, it could be interesting to address the potential role of e.g. the provision of co-working spaces.

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VII.

Bibliography

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Liuzzo, D. (2006). Administrative system of Germany. Retrieved August 2011, from http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestand:Administrative_Gliederung_Deutschlands.png Moilanen, T., & Rainisto, S. (2009). How to Brand Nations, Cities and Destinations. A Planning Book for Place Branding. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Park, Y., & Ha, H.-K. (2006). Analysis of the impact of hihg-speed railroad service on air transport demand. Transportation Research. Part E42 , 95-104. Peck, J. (2005). Struggling with the Creative Class. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. Vol. 29, No. 4 , 740-770. Pels, E., Njegovan, N., & Behrens, C. (2009). Low-cost airlines and airport competition. Transportation Research Part E45 , 335-344. Percoco, M. (2010). Airport Activity and Local Development: Evidence from Italy. Urban Studies, Vol. 47, No. 11 , 2427-2443. quality-Datenbank Klaus Gebhardt e.K. Germany. (2006, November). The TOP500 of the German companies. Retrieved July 2011, from TOP500: http://www.top500.de/ RailNetEurope. (2011). Retrieved July 2011, from RailNetEurope: http://www.rne.eu/ Regional policy - Inforegio. (s.d.). Retrieved July 2011, from Urban Audit: http://www.urbanaudit.org Regionalerplanungsverband Allgu. (2007). Regionalplan. Retrieved June 2011, from Regionaler Planungsverband: http://region.allgaeu.org/ Regionalverband Donau-Iller. (1987). RVDI.de: Regionalplan. Retrieved 07 2011, from Regionalverband Donau-Iller: http://www.rvdi.de/regionalplan.html Ryanair Ltd. (s.d.). Route Map - Travel to European destinations - Cheap Flights from UK. Retrieved July 2011, from www.ryanair.com: http://www.ryanair.com/en Sassen, S. (2000). Cities in a World Economy. Second Edition. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press. Scott, A. J. (2006). Creative cities: conceptual issues and policy questions. Journal of Urban Affairs, Vol. 28, No. 1 , 1-17. Scott, A. J. (2010). Cultural economy and the creative field of the city. Geografiska Annaler, Series B, Human Geography, Vol. 92, No. 2 , 115-130. Scott, J. P. (2003). Social Network Analysis: a handbook. 2nd edition. London: Sage Publications. Smith, D. A., & Timberlake, M. F. (2001). World City Networks and Hierarchies, 1977-1997: An Empirical Analysis of Global Air Travel Links. American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 44, No. 10 , 16561678. Stadt Kempten (Allgu). (s.d.). Retrieved June 2011, from Herzlich wilkommen in der Stadt Kempten: http://www.kempten.de/

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B i b l i o g r a p h y |6

Stadt Memmingen. (s.d.). Stadt Memmingen: Wirtschaft. Retrieved June 2011, from Stadt Memmingen: http://www.memmingen.de/wirtschaft.html Statistics Norway. (2011). Population statistics. Retrieved June 2011, from http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/02/ Taylor, P. J. (2001). Specification of the World City Network. Geographical Analysis, Vol. 33, Issue 2 . Taylor, P. J. (2004). World City Network. A Global Urban Analysis. London: Routledge. UN, Dep. of Economic and Social Affairs. (2002). World Urbanization Prospects. The 2001 Revision. New York: United Nations. UN, Dep. of Economic and Social Affairs. (2009). World Urbanization Prospects. The 2009 Revision. Highlights. New York: United Nations. Van Roosbroek, S., & Van Dooren, W. (2006). Meten is weten. Belgi/Vlaanderen in internationale indicatoren en indices. Leuven: Instituut voor de Overheid. Wasserman, S., & Faust, K. (2005). Social Network Analysis: methods and applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. X. (2010). Car park statistics Quarters I, II, III, IV/2010.

Interviews
Interviewa - Managing director, Allgu GmbH. Kempten. July 1st 2011. Interviewb -Head of the Department for Business, Culture and Management of the city of Kempten. Kempten. June 29th 2011 Interviewc - Responsible for PR and Public relations of the Allgu Airport GmbH & Co. KG and responsible for Controlling and Corporate Development of the Allgu Airport GmbH & Co. KG. Memmingerberg. June 30th 2011. Interviewd - Business promotor for the city of Memmingen. Memmingen. June 29 th 2011.

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Appendices |1

VIII.
VIII.1.
Airport

Appendices
Appendix 1 - Candidate airport cities
City (situating the airport) World city (within a 150 km radius) Brussels London Milano Barcelona Barcelona Paris Oslo Munich 202 598 194 300 118 019 106 622
102

Population size

Potential airport city?

Brussels South Charleroi London Luton Milan Bergamo Reus Barcelona Girona Barcelona Paris Beauvais Oslo (Torp) Memmingen Munich West Ciampino (Rome) Oslo (Rygge) Dusseldorf Weeze

Charleroi (B) Luton (UK) Bergamo (It) Reus (Sp) Girona (Sp) Beauvais (Fr) Sandjeford (N) Memmingen (G)

103

104

104

96 236

104

54 953 43 648 41 085

105

106

107

Ciampino (It) Rygge (N) Weeze (G)

109

Rome Oslo Dusseldorf

38 529 14 426

106

106

10 682

108

Table 17 - Selection of potential airport cities.

102

Population on 01.01.2010 (Brinkhoff, 1998-2011). The data provided by this source was cross-checked with the data of national statistical institutes. 103 Mid Year Estimate for 2009 by the Office for National Statistics 104 Population on 01.01.2010 (Brinkhoff, 1998-2011). 105 Population on 01.01.2008 (Brinkhoff, 1998-2011). 106 Population on 01.01.2011 (Brinkhoff, 1998-2011). 107 Population on 31.12.2010 (Bayerisches Landesamt fr Statistik und Datenverarbeitung, s.d.) 108 Population on 31.12.2010 (Landesbetrieb Information und Technik Nordrhein-Westfalen, s.d.) 109 Cf. 0, p.18

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Appendices |2

VIII.2.

Appendix 2 - World cities in Europe

Figure 14 - World cities in Europe, anno 2008 (Own Illustration on the basis of GaWC, 2010). Red pins indicate Alpha world cities, black pins indicate Beta world cities, yellow pins indicate Gamma world cities. The red spheres represent 150 km boundaries around each world city.

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Appendices |3

VIII.3.

Appendix 3 - List of cities involved in the quantitative analysis

(Regional policy - Inforegio, s.d.)

Country Austria

City Graz Innsbruck Linz Salzburg Brugge Gent Namur Charleroi Darmstadt Frankfurt an der Oder Gttingen Koblenz Mlheim an der Ruhr Magdeburg Mainz Moers Regensburg Trier Weimar Erfurt Freiburg im Breisgau Kiel Saarbrcken Schwerin Oulu Tampere Turku Amiens Besanon Caen Cayenne Fort-de-France Pointe-a-Pitre Saint Denis Ajaccio Dijon Limoges Metz Poitiers Reims Iraklio Ioannina Kalamata Kavala Larissa Patra

Belgium

Germany

Finland

France

Greece

Airport city? Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes No No No No No No No No No No No Yes Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes No No No No No No No yes yes yes yes yes yes No yes yes yes yes yes

Country Greece Ireland

City Volos Cork Galway Limerick Brescia Campobasso Caserta Catanzaro Cremona l'Aquila Modena Padova Potenza Sassari Taranto Trento Ancona Cagliari Foggia Perugia Pescara Reggio di Calabria Salerno Trieste Almere Apeldoorn Breda Heerlen Leeuwarden Nijmegen Tilburg Eindhoven Enschede Groningen Czestochowa Gorzw Wielkopolski Jelenia Gra Kalisz Kielce Konin Nowy Sacz Olsztyn Opole Plock Radom

Italy

The Netherlands

Airport city? yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No

Poland

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Appendices |4

Country Poland

City Suwalki Torun Zory Koszalin Rzeszw Zielona Gra Aveiro Setubal Braga Coimbra Faro Funchal Ponta Delgada Porto Toledo Badajoz Logroo Oviedo Pamplona / Irua Santander

Portugal

Spain

Airport city? No No No Yes yes yes No No yes yes yes yes yes yes No yes yes yes Yes Yes

Country Spain

City Santiago de Compostela Sta, Cruz de Tenerife Vitoria / Gasteiz Cambridge Gravesham Lincoln Portsmouth Stevenage Stoke-on-trent Wolverhampton Worcester Wrexham Aberdeen Derry Exeter Kingston-upon-Hull

Airport city? Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes

United Kingdom

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Appendices |5

VIII.4.

Appendix 4 - Correlation coefficients of the quantitative analysis

In order to see if there is a general tendency relating the economic development of small to medium-sized cities to the presence of airports, correlations are calculated for a selection of small to medium-sized European cities. The resulting correlation coefficients110 suggest there is however little if any correlation between the presence of an airport and economic development. As a result no conclusions can be made on the basis of this information.
Total resident population Unemployment rate Proportion of employment in service sector (NACE G-P) Proportion of employment in financial and business services (NACE J-K) Tourists overnight stays per resident population

Relative annual change 1996-2004 2001-2004 Relative situation 2001 2004 0,165 0,154 0,184 0,230 0,092 0,264 0,175 0,060 0,054 0,024 0,167 0,074 -0,125 -0,039 0,090 -0,205

Table 18 Correlation coefficients for the presence of an airport and the variable described (-: no correlations could be 111 calculated due to a lack of data ) (Own calculations on the basis of data from Regional policy - Inforegio, s.d.)

110 111

See Table 18, Appendix 4 The Urban Audit database has a high level of blank values.

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Appendices |6

VIII.5.

Appendix 5 - List of destinations of Ryanair, d.d. February 12,

2011 (Ryanair Ltd., s.d.)

Austria Graz, Klagenfurt, Linz, Salzburg Belgium Brussels (Charleroi) Bulgaria Plovdiv Croatia, Osijek, Pula, Rijeka, Zadar Cyprus Larnaca Czech Republic Brno Denmark Aarhus, Billund Estonia Tallinn Finland Lappeenranta, Tampere France Bergerac, Beziers, Biarritz, Bordeaux, Brest, Carcassonne, Dinard, Figari, Grenoble, La Rochelle, Lille, Limoges, Lourdes, Marseille MP2, Montpellier, Nantes, Nice, Nmes, Paris Beauvais, Paris Vatry (Disney) , Pau, Perpignan, Poitiers, Rodez, St. Etienne (Lyon) , Toulon, Tours Germany Altenburg, Berlin, Bremen, Dsseldorf (Weeze) , Frankfurt-Hahn, Hamburg-Lbeck, Karlsruhe-Baden, MagdeburgCochstedt, Memmingen (Munich West) Greece Kos, Rhodes, Thessaloniki, Volos Ireland Cork, Dublin, Kerry, Knock, Shannon Italy Alghero, Ancona, Bari, Bologna, Brindisi, Cagliari, Cuneo, Genoa, Lamezia, Milan (Bergamo) , Palermo, Parma, Perugia, Pescara, Pisa, Rimini, Rome (Ciampino), Trapani,Trieste, Turin, Venice Marco Polo, Venice-Treviso, Verona, Verona (Brescia)

Latvia Riga Lithuania Kaunas Malta Malta Netherlands Eindhoven, Maastricht Norway Haugesund, Oslo (Rygge) , Oslo (Torp) Poland Bydgoszcz, Gdaosk, Katowice, Krakow, Lodz, Poznao, Rzeszw, Szczecin, Wroclaw Portugal Faro, Porto Romania Constanta Slovakia Bratislava Spain Alicante, Almeria, Barcelona, Fuerteventura, Girona (Barcelona) , Granada, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Jerez, Lanzarote, Lleida (Pyrenees) , Madrid, Malaga, Murcia, Palma, Mallorca, Reus (Barcelona) , Santander, Santiago Comp. , Seville, Tenerife South, Valencia, Valladolid, Zaragoza, Sweden Gothenburg City, Karlstad, Kristianstad, Skelleftea, Stockholm Skavsta, Stockholm Vasteras, Vaxjo, Smaland UK Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, Derry, Doncaster, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow (Prestwick) , Humberside, Leeds Bradford, Liverpool, London-Gatwick, London (Luton) , London-Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle

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Appendices |7

VIII.6.

Appendix 6 - Questionnaire for the semi-structured interview

The interview will have 2 parts. In the first part I will ask you some more general questions regarding economic orientation and development of the city/area and on the role of the airport in this. In the second part we will address these issues via the use of cognitive mapping. With both techniques I want to try to get an idea of the economic and geographic orientation of cities in the world city network. Please feel free to ask questions if something is not clear to you. Part a) the interview Available on request Part b) Cognitive mapping. In the next part I would like to use a technique called cognitive mapping. I will ask you to draw about two maps on blank paper. In this map, I am interested in your representation of reality, so try to respect distances as best you can. Please be as complete as you think is necessary and please explain what you are drawing and how you interpret the drawing. First map: Please draw a map of how X is positioned with the rest of Europe or the world (if appropriate). If you feel that you have to add things during the drawing, please do so. Instructions Available on request

Second map: Locate world cities on the paper with respect to the distance towards X. Instructions

Available on request

Part c) other Available on request

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Appendices |8

VIII.7.
Maps 1

Appendix 7 - Cognitive maps

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Appendices |9

Maps 2

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A p p e n d i c e s | 10

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A p p e n d i c e s | 11

VIII.8.
Railways

Appendix 8 - Relevant maps

Figure 15 - High speed railway connections in Europe (Wikipedia, 2011).

Highways

Figure 16 Infrastructural connections for the Allgu Airport Memmingen(Allgu Airport Memmingen, s.d.).

Other sources
(RailNetEurope, 2011), (Bayerisches Eisenbahngesellschaft mbH, 2011), (Bayerische Staatsministerium des Innern, s.d.), GoogleEarth

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A p p e n d i c e s | 12

VIII.9.

Appendix 9 - Economic data for Kempten, Memmingen

Agriculture, forestry & Fishing 2000 2004 2007 2009 3,5% 3,1% 2,9% 2,9% 3,9% 3,4% 3,2% 3,3% 6,8% 6,0% 5,7% 5,7% 0,7% 0,7% 0,7% 0,7% 1,2% 1,2% 1,2% Industry Without construction Services Trade, Hotel & Restaurant, Transport 24,7% 23,7% 23,2% 22,5% 27,1% 26,2% 25,8% 25,4% 27,1% 27,3% 27,5% 27,2% 20,2% 18,7% 17,6% 18,2% 29,3% 28,3% 28,0% 65,0% 67,3% 68,2% 69,0% 61,2% 63,6% 64,4% 64,9% 56,4% 57,8% 57,6% 58,4% 74,8% 77,9% 79,6% 78,3% 62,3% 63,7% 64,5% 24,3% 24,5% 24,2% 24,2% 24,8% 25,3% 25,2% 25,1% 25,2% 25,7% 25,6% 25,4% 29,6% 30,4% 29,5% 29,3% 25,9% 25,5% 24,0% Financial services and service provision 14,4% 15,5% 16,4% 16,4% 11,3% 12,1% 13,0% 12,8% 8,2% 8,8% 8,8% 9,3% 15,3% 16,9% 18,9% 17,4% 13,1% 14,0% 16,5% 14,8%

Share in employment
Bayern

31,5% 29,6% 28,9% 28,2% 34,8% 33,0% 32,4% 31,8% 36,8% 36,3% 36,8% 35,9% 24,2% 21,2% 20,0% 20,8% 36,4% 35,1% 34,4%

Schwaben

2000 2004 2007 2009

Allgau*

2000 2004 2007 2009

Kempten

2000 2004 2007 2009

Memmingen

2000 2004 2007

2009 1,1% 34,5% 27,6% 64,4% 25,4% Table 19 - Share in employment Allgu*: average for the Landkreisen Oberallgu, Unterallgu, Ostallgu and Lindau (Bayerisches Landesamt fr Statistik und Datenverarbeitung, s.d.). Jeroen Van Looy 2011

A p p e n d i c e s | 13

Share in Gross Value Added

Bayern 2000 2004 2007 2008 Schwaben 2000 2004 2007 2008 Allgau 2000 2004 2007 2008 Kempten 2000 2004 2007 2008 Memmingen 2000 2004 2007 2008

Land- und Produzierendes Forstwirtschaft, Gewerbe Produzierendes gewerbe Fischerei ohne baugewerbe 1,3% 1,2% 1,0% 1,0% 1,5% 1,4% 1,2% 1,1% 2,5% 2,4% 2,1% 1,9% 0,4% 0,4% 0,3% 0,3% 0,7% 0,5% 0,5% 0,5% 31,8% 30,6% 31,8% 31,0% 37,6% 35,7% 36,0% 35,7% 39,3% 38,0% 38,3% 38,8% 27,4% 26,9% 26,3% 25,4% 38,4% 38,0% 39,8% 40,7% 26,8% 26,4% 27,7% 26,7% 31,8% 30,6% 31,2% 30,6% 31,6% 30,8% 31,2% 31,6% 23,8% 24,5% 24,6% 23,5% 31,0% 32,6% 34,3% 35,0%

Dienstleistungsbereich Handel, Gastgewerbe und verkehr 66,8% 68,2% 67,2% 68,0% 60,9% 62,9% 62,7% 63,2% 58,2% 59,6% 59,5% 59,2% 72,2% 72,7% 73,4% 74,3% 60,9% 61,5% 59,7% 58,9% 17,0% 15,9% 15,2% 15,6% 16,0% 15,5% 15,0% 15,2% 15,1% 14,8% 14,7% 14,6% 22,7% 22,0% 20,7% 21,3% 18,0% 15,7% 14,6% 15,8% Finanzierung, Vermietung und unternehmensdienstleist. 28,8% 31,3% 31,9% 32,1% 23,7% 25,9% 27,1% 27,5% 22,1% 24,2% 24,8% 24,9% 23,4% 25,1% 27,0% 27,2% 21,3% 24,4% 25,0% 23,7%

Table 20 - Share in GVA Allgu*: average for the Landkreisen Oberallgu, Unterallgu, Ostallgu and Lindau (Bayerisches Landesamt fr Statistik und Datenverarbeitung, s.d.).

Jeroen Van Looy

2011

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VIII.10. Appendix 10 - Tourist overnights

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 20042009 +19% +33% +5% +45% +23% +20% +2% +20% -2% Average stay 2009 3,2 2,1 1,8 4,2 1,7 4,8 5,4 3,6 4,9 Share foreign 2009 23% 11% 23% 17% 22% 31% 5% 17% 7%

Fussen Kaufbeuren Kempten Lindau Memmingen Oberallgu Oberstdorf Ostallgu Unterallgu

666420 46193 121907 1190391 79287 915219 1794884 1877899 973597

703802 45748 126413 1229442 79777 955659 1822329 1891733 974353

832304 47798 127127 1398410 83849 989105 1765309 2384920 979273

837223 56242 132063 1506958 90537 1005761 1729041 2398949 956686

838082 60462 132039 1650739 97619 1050947 1820759 2340411 924228

792888 61549 128000 1724008 97477 1100662 1826848 2246738 954110

Table 21 - Guest nights in the Allgu(Bayerisches Landesamt fr Statistik und Datenverhandlung, 2011).

Jeroen Van Looy

2011

A p p e n d i c e s | 15

VIII.11. Appendix 11 - Founding shareholders of Allgu Airport Company GmbH & Co. KG
Company Branch # employees International 112 connections Activities Kempten Berger Holding GmbH & Co. 113 KG Dachser GmbH 24 & Co. KG Hans Kolb Wellpappe GmbH & Co. 114 KG Magnet-Schultz GmbH & Co. 115 KG MAHA Mashinenbau Haldenwang GmbH & Co. 116 KG Pfeiffer Holding GmbH & Co. 117 KG Automotive, hydrolics, electronics, Engineering Logistics Paper production >1 800 CA, CH, PL, US, Memmingen HQ Elsewhere in Allgu -

19 250 > 850

310 locations worldwide -

HQ -

Logist. Center HQ, Prod. Unit

Kaufbeuren

Electromagnetic actuators and sensors Engineering

1 900

CH, IT, UK, US

HQ Prod. Unit

Memminger berg

> 1 000

Wire rope technology Building technology n.d.

> 1 200

SWH GmbH & Co. KG

n.d.

IE, ES, PL, FR, SRB, RU, CH, CN, JA, SG, SA, CL, AU, BR, IN, UK USA, CA, BR, ES, FR, UK, LU, AT, CH, PL, RU, CN, CZ, DK HU, RO -

Haldenwang

HQ Logist. Center

Haldenwang

112

AT: Austria, AU: Australia, BR: Brasil, CA: Canada, CH: Switzerland, CI: Chile, CN: China, CZ: Czech Republic, DK: Denmark, ES: Spain, FR: France, HU: Hungary, IE: Ireland, IN: India, IT: Italy, JA: Japan, LU: Luxemburg, PL: Poland, RO: Romenia, RU: Russia, SA: South-Africa, SG: Singapore, SRB: Serbia, UK: United Kingdom, US: United States of America, 113 http://www.aberger.de/de/berger-group/ 114 http://www.kolb-wellpappe.de/ 115 http://www.magnet-schultz.com/en/desktopdefault.aspx 116 http://www.maha.de/default.htm 117 Pfeiffer Seil- und Hebetechnik GmbH - http://www.pfeifer.de/

Jeroen Van Looy

2011

Jeroen Van Looy

2011