ABSTRACT
In recent years, many nations have looked to digital industry enclaves as motors that might propel their economies through the uncertain tides of globalisation. Public officials around the world have long been entranced by Silicon Valley. During the 1990s, a new kind of digital enclave made a spectacular emergence in US cities. ‘New media’ districts such as the San Francisco's ‘Multimedia Gulch’, the ‘Digital Coast’ of Los Angeles and New York's ‘Silicon Alley’ drew billions in investment and generated large numbers of jobs. These districts were touted as evidence of a ‘new economy’ fuelled by a combination of neo-liberal policies and new technology. However, there are a variety of ways in which digital districts are being made. Central states in east Asian nations such as Japan, Singapore and Malaysia have devised development schemes featuring ‘smart’ buildings, technopoles and ‘intelligent’ cities. Now that the dot-com bubble has burst, it is a good time to examine state-led alternatives.
