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|
|
Book =
Review
| Cities of=20
Knowledge: Cold War Science and the Search for the Next =
Silicon=20
Valley. By Margaret Pugh O'Mara. (Princeton: Princeton=20
University Press, 2005. xvi, 298 pp. $35.00, ISBN =
0-691-11716-0.)
|
| In her new =
book,=20
Margaret Pugh O'Mara describes the rise to prominence of =
science as=20
a means to economic growth and prosperity in the United =
States and=20
attempts to explain why some regions were better able to =
fertilize=20
high-technology development than others. O'Mara's discussion =
centers=20
on cities of knowledge, "engines of scientific production, =
filled=20
with high-tech industries, homes for scientific workers and =
their=20
families, with research universities at their heart" (p. 1), =
and she=20
focuses intensely on three locales: Silicon Valley, =
Philadelphia,=20
and Atlanta. |
1 |
| =20
O'Mara contends that what is now =
known as=20
Silicon Valley provided the model conditions for a =
successful city=20
of knowledge. At its core was Stanford University, an =
institution=20
that became a major recipient of government research funding =
in the=20
Cold War era. This money was the bedrock on which Stanford =
built,=20
but according to O'Mara, the institution's pivotal role in =
shaping=20
the region was also affected by its deep history of =
unusually tight=20
ties to private industry. These linkages provided the basis =
for the=20
development of many of the high-tech firms that grew up in =
the=20
region. Beyond the linkages, Stanford is a private, not a =
state,=20
university. O'Mara shows how that status gave pivotal =
administrators=20
a flexibility in making policy decisions and working to =
shape=20
regional economic development that executives at public =
universities=20
generally lack. Furthermore, as a large landholder, Stanford =
was=20
able to play a central role in shaping its region's economic =
and=20
social geography, creating an early model research park and =
housing=20
for many of the elite workers of the emerging Silicon =
Valley. |
2 |
| =20
Philadelphia did not become a =
high-tech=20
capital like Silicon Valley. Although the University of =
Pennsylvania=20
was a top-tier research institution throughout the twentieth =
century, it did not benefit from federal research largess =
the way=20
Stanford did. And while private, Penn did not possess large=20
landholdings, and its central urban campus developed amid =
the racial=20
and class tensions of the time. Those factors, according to =
O'Mara,=20
made it impossible to build the bucolic campus environment =
around=20
which a thriving city of knowledge could =
develop. |
3 |
| =20
Atlanta, while not without its =
high-tech=20
successes, did not become the South's Silicon Valley. Like=20
Philadelphia, Atlanta was not a tranquil, sparsely populated =
place.=20
It was deeply affected by the racial politics of the day, =
and as in=20
Penn's case, the dense urban geography limited the high-tech =
development possibilities for Atlanta. Then too, the Georgia =
Institute of Technology was a state institution, constrained =
by=20
state officials and forced to fit into the diverse policy=20
considerations area politicians =
confronted. |
4 |
| =20
O'Mara wants to make a general =
argument=20
about the factors that explain the success of cities of =
knowledge.=20
However, general claims are difficult to sustain on the =
basis of a=20
study of three cases: one triumphant and two much less =
fortunate=20
regions. Still, O'Mara's study is richly wrought, and her =
emphasis=20
on place adds an important new dimension to discussions of =
Cold War=20
political economy and its =
legacies. |
5 |
| Daniel Lee=20
Kleinman |
University of=20
Wisconsin
Madison,=20
=
Wisconsin | | <=
/TR>
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