In addition to more than 100,000 jobs, the TYE megazone contains important economic assets, such as "anchor" firms (mostly head offices), major institutions, or infrastructure assets such as intermodal facilities. The TYE megazone is home to Canadian corporate head offices such as Allstate Insurance and Hyundai Canada, and major anchor firms such as IBM and Motorola. The regionally significant ICT industry cluster found here includes anchor firms such as, OnX, AMD, and Qualcomm, as well as laboratory facilities, and many smaller firms.1 The megazone also contains two campuses of Seneca College; and a future York University satellite campus is planned for Markham Centre.
Leveraging these assets means acknowledging and actively promoting the increasingly important role of agglomeration economies - characterized as "sharing, learning and matching"2 - in regional competitiveness, as well as the role of urban environments in economic development. Other jurisdictions are employing deliberate strategies to take maximum advantage of these economic assets.3 Regional and local planning has a key role to play.
LEVERAGING ECONOMIC ASSETS MEANS ACTIVELY PROMOTING THE INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT ROLE OF AGGLOMERATION ECONOMIES IN REGIONAL COMPETITIVENESS.
[1] The City of Markham website states that 400 Canadian head offices are located in the municipality. Most of these are in the megazone area.
[2] G. Duranton and D. Puga, "Micro-Foundations of Urban Agglomeration Economies." In Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, ed. J.V. Henderson and J.F. Thisse, Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2004.
[3] See, for example, Brooking Institution's Bass Initiative on Innovation and Placemaking, http://www.brookings.edu/about/projects/innovation-and-placemaking.