The tension between fixity and mobility also underpins my work with Gavin Bridge (Durham University) on the geographical reach of the international oil industry. We are principally interested in the changing geographies of knowledge in the industry and how different forms of knowledge and knowing help and/or hinder the globalization of US oil firms.
The stickiness of economic activity is key to a second ongoing research project, with Nick Phelps (University College London), examining the growth and development of the location consulting industry. Location consultants or site selectors broker between large firms and communities seeking to attract inward investment. We are interested in the role consultants play in enabling the mobility of capital and in shaping the landscape of investment and disinvestment. Findings from the project are outlined in two recent papers in Journal of Economic Geography and Environment and Planning A.
I have long been interested in how we might best theorize and understand the interests engaged in governing cities. This is reflected in my work on the property development industry in the U.S. along with a series of projects on the construction and mobilization of local business interests, in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
The second theme is the endemic tension between the mobility and fixity of economic forms and practices. This dates all the way back to my PhD work and is one of the three relationships central to my recent textbook with Sue Roberts