Centrality and Locational Change: Printing, Publishing, and Clothing in Montreal and Toronto

The strong locational clustering and core-orientation of the clothing and printing and publishing industries has been noted in many leading metropolitan areas. This paper indicates why we might expect a rapid response by these industries to changes in locational advantage, then contrasts their marginal processes of plant locational adjustment in Montreal and Toronto from 1949 to 1967. It documents the high volume of locational activity and reveals significant differences between the metropoleis and industries in the degree of plant centrality, in the net redistribution of plants, and in the relative strengths of the marginal processes. Analysis of net changes in plants suggests the downtowns had become relatively adverse environments for these industries, while the marginal analyses support arguments emphasizing the role of pull factors in decentralization rather than push factors. By the mid-sixties both downtowns attracted a much smaller proportion of new plants than in the fifties, yet in printing a larger actual number. The results raise questions about the validity of the usual interpretations of the advantages of the core for such manufacturing industries.