Zoning a productive city? A typology of clustering, diversity and specialisation in Melbourne’s urban industrial areas

Abstract

This research focuses on identifying the nuanced land use dynamics of urban industrial zones. Industrial lands in major Western cities have undergone significant change in the face of increasingly competitive property markets. At the same time, many countries seek to reshore manufacturing and support local industrial activity amid changes in production technologies, global supply chain shocks and geopolitical insecurity. Yet policymakers often fail to seriously consider the contemporary character of industrial zones and research has yet to analyse this in a systematic way. In response, we employ k-means cluster analysis to develop a typology of industrial zones in Melbourne, Australia. The typology captures a range of industrial zone clusters, which vary by industry mix, specialisation and spatial pattern. While some clusters represent traditional industrial areas, others are highly diverse in terms of firm and employment mix encompassing service sector activity and specialised manufacturing industries. These variations underscore the limitations of traditional zoning frameworks focused predominately on use separation and point towards the need for more responsive and context-specific urban economic development and industrial land use policies.