Similar dynamics are apparent at the national scale: in the United Kingdom, spatial economic imbalance has widened over time, with London and the South East region concentrating most of the country’s economic activity (Martin et al., Metropolitan areas such as London, New York, San Francisco and Tokyo, for instance, attract highly productive activities and highly skilled individuals, not only nationwide but even on the global scale. As more skilled individuals move to cities, absorptive capacities in peripheral/lagging areas decrease.