A Note on Methods for Measuring Industrial Agglomeration

Abstract

O’Donoghue D. and Gleave B. (2004) A note on methods for measuring industrial agglomeration, Reg. Studies 38, 419– 427. A range of quantitative techniques have been employed by researchers in economic geography and other social science disciplines for the purpose of measuring and spatially delimiting agglomerations of industrial activity. However, these techniques appear to have been applied with little consistency within the literature, particularly with regard to the use of arbitrary cut-off values for determining what level of industrial specialization defines an agglomeration. This paper proposes a new measure, the ‘standardized location quotient’, which recognizes agglomerations as being comprised of locations with statistically significant (rather then arbitrarily defined) location quotient values for the industry/activity under analysis. The use of the measure in delimiting spatial agglomerations within the UK business services sector, using recent employment and workplace data, is demonstrated.