Robert Kloosterman is Professor of Economic Geography and Planning at the Universiteit van Amsterdam. He was the Director of the Amsterdam Institute of Metropolitan and International D evelopment St udies (AMIDSt), Universiteit van Amsterdam from 2003 to 2008.
His research is guided by questions about how the social, economic and cultural transition of advanced urban economies that gathered pace after 1980 has affected cities and why different outcomes have emerged. His current research activities centre on new economic activities in urban contexts (notably cultural industries and migrant businesses) and on linkages within polycentric urban configurations in advanced economies.A connecting themeconcerns the way different (national or local) institutional environments filter, shape, reinforce or block more general changes. He was the scientific adviser of the InFLOWence project on polycenricity in the Mediterraenean (2010-2013) funded under the ERDF MED programme. He advised the OECD on migrant entrereneurship in 2009-2010.
Robert Kloosterman has received research grants from the Dutch Scientific Council NWO, the European Union, the European Science Foundation, the Ministry of Interior Affairs, the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Housing, Environment and Physical Planning, the municipalities of Amsterdam , Rotterdam , The Hague , the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences and other organisations. He was also an independent member of the Dutch Social and Economic Council committee on immigrant entrepreneurship and advised the OECD on migrant entrepreneurship.
He is on the Editorial Board of the Built Environment journal. He has been a guest editor of special issues of Regional Studies, Built Environment , Urban Studies and the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.
2010- 2011 Franqui Chair Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Business Studies, Universiteit van Hasselt
The research of Robert Kloosterman is guided by underlying questions about how social, economic and cultural transitions of advanced urban economies that gathered pace after 1980 have affected cities and why outcomes have differed significantly. His current research centres on three themes:
The first theme is concerned with the shifts in relevant spatial levels of the linkages between actors in cities and how they contribute to the formation of clusters within cities and networks between cities - such as polycentric urban configurations and global urban networks. Kloosterman has participated in several international projects on this theme, the most recent being the POLYNET-project led by Sir Peter Hall.
The most recent publications on this theme are:
The second research theme centres on migrant entrepreneurship, which has become important in many advanced urban economies. Robert Kloosterman, together with Joanne van der Leun and Jan Rath, introduced the concept of mixed embeddedness in the eponymous article in the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research in 1999. This concept aims at connecting resources of (aspiring) migrant entrepreneurs on the one hand, with the specific local urban opportunity structure on the other, in a systematic way.
The concept of mixed embeddedness was at the centre of an international research network on immigrant entrepreneurship in advanced urban economies, funded by the European Union under the Fourth Framework Programme (Targeted Socio-Economic Research). This network- Working on the Fringes: Immigrant Businesses, Economic Integration and Informal Practices-was founded and co-ordinated by Robert Kloosterman and Jan Rath, and included participants from European Union member states, Israel, North America, Australia and South Africa. A tangible result of this project is Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Venturing Abroad in the Age of Globalization Venturing Abroad, a volume edited by Robert Kloosterman and Jan Rath.
A further elaboration of mixed embeddedness can be found in 'Mixed Embeddedness as a Conceptual Framework for Exploring Immigrant Entrepreneurship', Entrepreneurship and Regional Development (2009, forthcoming).
Concerning the third theme, the cultural industries, Robert Kloosterman leads a long-term project on cultural industries and urban economies. Following the steps of Allen Scott's pioneering work on this emerging mainstay of contemporary urban economies,Robert Kloostermanhas beenlooking at cultural industries and urban economies with a focus on spatial patterns of cultural industries and their interrelationship with social networks (in polycentric and monocentric urban configurations).
The Dutch Scientific Council (NWO) has awarded Robert Kloosterman and Maarten Prak (Onderzoeksinstituut voor Geschiedenis en Cultuur History, Utrecht University) a four-year research project Places and their culture: the Evolution of Dutch Cultural Industries from an International Perspective, 1600-2000 . The aim of the project is to assess the role and position of the visual arts, architecture and publishing from an international comparative perspective by looking at the patterns of their evolution in selected cities.
The research on architectural practices has resulted in an analysis of the emergence of a cluster of architectural firms in Rotterdam ('Delirious Rotterdam'). More recently, an in-depth analysis of the walls and bridges concerning knowledge spillover between so-called 'strong-idea' architectural practices in Rotterdam and Amsterdam has been published in the Journal of Economic Geography in 2008.
Kloosterman, R.C. (2015), ‘Forces of agglomeration: Allen Scott’s The Cultural Economy of Cities revisited’, Built Environment (41:3): 379- 389.
Zhang, X. and R.C. Kloosterman (2014), ‘Connecting the “Workshop of the World”: Intra- and extra- service networks of the Pearl River Delta City-Region’, Regional Studies, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2014.962492
Kloosterman, R. C. (2014), ‘Cultural amenities: Large and small, mainstream and niche—A conceptual framework for cultural planning in an age of austerity’, European Planning Studies, 22(12): 2510-2525.
Beckers, P. and R.C. Kloosterman (2014), ‘Open to Business? An Exploration of the Impact of the Built Environment and Zoning Plans on Local Businesses in Pre-war and Post-war Residential Neighbourhoods in Dutch Cities’, Urban Studies (51:1): pp. 153 – 169.
Kloosterman, R.C. (2010) ‘Matching opportunities with resources: A framework for analysing
(migrant) entrepreneurship from a mixed embeddedness perspective’, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development (22:1): 25-45
Kloosterman, Robert C. (2008), Walls and bridges: knowledge spillover between ‘superdutch’ architectural firms. Journal of Economic Geography 8(4): 545-563
Kloosterman, R.C. and B. Lambregts (2007), ‘Between Accumulation and Concentration of Capital: Comparing the Long-Term Trajectories of the Dutch Randstad and London Urban Systems’, Urban Geography; 28(1): 54-73
Van der Leun, J.P. and R.C. Kloosterman, ‘Going underground: Immigration policy changes and shifts in modes of provision of undocumented immigrants in Rotterdam’, Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 97(1), 2006 : 59-68
Kloosterman, R.C. (2005), ‘Come together; An Introduction to Music and the City’. Built Environment, 31(3): 181-191
Kloosterman, R.C., J.P. van der Leun and J. Rath (1999), ‘Mixed embeddedness, migrant entrepreneurship and informal economic activities’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, (23:2): 253-67
Kloosterman, R.C. and G.C. Quispel (1990) ‘“Not just the same old show on my radio”; An analysis of the role of the radio in the diffusion of black music among whites in the south of the United States, 1920-1960’, Popular Music, 1990, 9(2): 151-164
Kloosterman, R. C. (2014), “Faces of migration: migrants and the transformation of Amsterdam”. In Kochan, B. (Eds.), Migration and London’s Growth. London: LSE London: 127-143
Kloosterman, R.C. (2013), "The Amsterdam Economy and Its Impact on the Labor Market Position of Migrants, 1980–2010." In: N. Foner, J. Rath, J.W. Duyvendak, and Rogier van Reekum (eds.), Immigration and the New Urban Landscape, New York and Amsterdam. New York: NYU Press: 107-121
M. Deinema and R.C. Kloosterman (2013), ‘Polycentric Urban Trajectories and Urban Cultural Economy’. In: J. Klaesson, B. Johansson and C. Karlsson (Eds.), Metropolitan Regions; Knowledge Infrastructures of the Global Economy. Springer Verlag: Berlin/Heidelberg: 339-373
Kloosterman, R.C. (2015), ‘De gevaren van een getemde stad’. In: V. Mamadouh en A. van Wageningen (red.), EU@Amsterdam; Een stedelijke raad. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press: 187-192.
Folmer, E. en R.C. Kloosterman (2015), ‘Een nieuwe geografie van wonen en werken’. In: W.G.M. Salet, R. Vermeulen en R. van der Wouden (Red.), Toevoegen van Ruimtelijke Kwaliteit; Ruimtelijke Kennis voor het Jaar van de Ruimte. Amsterdam: 136- 144.
Kloosterman, R.C. (2015), ‘Cultuurpaleis of alternatief podium? Culturele planning gevierendeeld en gewogen’. In: E. Schrijvers, A.-G. Keizer and G. Engbersen (Eds.), Cultuur herwaarderen. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press: 83-102
Kloosterman, R.C. (2015), ‘One-Hit City Wonder: Düsseldorf and Kraftwerk’,
Kloosterman, R.C. (2015) http://www.stadslevenamsterdam.nl/2015/11/05/big-spenders-londen-vs-amsterdam-column-robert-kloosterman/