{"title":"Interwoven spaces: How interactions in physical space facilitate knowledge exchange and market transactions in virtual space","authors":"Di Wu , Yibo Qiao","doi":"10.1016/j.geoforum.2024.104010","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>With the wide adoption of the Internet worldwide, virtual space (or cyberspace) has become a key concern for geographers. Virtual space and physical space are increasingly recognised as interwoven, interdependent, and complementary. However, extant literature has offered insufficient explanations of how virtual and physical spaces are entwined. Specifically, little attention has been drawn from an economic geography perspective to understand how virtual space and physical space complement each other to facilitate economic relations and activities. To fill this gap, this study—through a case study of the creative ceramic industry in Jingdezhen, China—unpacks the interwoven nature of virtual and physical spaces and reveals how the interdependence between these spaces facilitates the two most important dimensions in economic geography: knowledge exchange and market transactions. Identifying certain limitations of virtual space alone in enabling knowledge exchange and market transactions, this study finds that knowledge transfer and co-production via virtual communities and electronic commerce via online retail and social media platforms occur most effectively when being combined with some interactions in physical space. It shows that relational networks, trust, and mutual understanding established through offline interactions could significantly encourage knowledge exchange and market transactions in virtual space.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":12497,"journal":{"name":"Geoforum","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Geoforum","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001671852400071X","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"GEOGRAPHY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
With the wide adoption of the Internet worldwide, virtual space (or cyberspace) has become a key concern for geographers. Virtual space and physical space are increasingly recognised as interwoven, interdependent, and complementary. However, extant literature has offered insufficient explanations of how virtual and physical spaces are entwined. Specifically, little attention has been drawn from an economic geography perspective to understand how virtual space and physical space complement each other to facilitate economic relations and activities. To fill this gap, this study—through a case study of the creative ceramic industry in Jingdezhen, China—unpacks the interwoven nature of virtual and physical spaces and reveals how the interdependence between these spaces facilitates the two most important dimensions in economic geography: knowledge exchange and market transactions. Identifying certain limitations of virtual space alone in enabling knowledge exchange and market transactions, this study finds that knowledge transfer and co-production via virtual communities and electronic commerce via online retail and social media platforms occur most effectively when being combined with some interactions in physical space. It shows that relational networks, trust, and mutual understanding established through offline interactions could significantly encourage knowledge exchange and market transactions in virtual space.
期刊介绍:
Geoforum is an international, inter-disciplinary journal, global in outlook, and integrative in approach. The broad focus of Geoforum is the organisation of economic, political, social and environmental systems through space and over time. Areas of study range from the analysis of the global political economy and environment, through national systems of regulation and governance, to urban and regional development, local economic and urban planning and resources management. The journal also includes a Critical Review section which features critical assessments of research in all the above areas.