City on a Helix: The Growth of the Biotechnology Industry in Cambridge

Starting in the 1980s, Cambridge (MA) became an entrepôt to the promised riches of the molecular frontier. The burgeoning biotechnology industry converted warehouses and factories into the densest concentration of firms anywhere in the world. The creation of a thriving biotechnology cluster in the gritty environs of postindustrial Cambridge broke with the geographic development of other knowledge-based industries, which had gravitated to the land and leisure promised by the American suburbs in the decades after the Second World War. The formation of this cluster provides an opportunity to stage a conversation between historians of science, who have long attended to the local circumstances of knowledge production, and urban historians, who have drawn attention to the importance of new cityscapes to the emergence of new forms of capitalism, such as the postindustrial knowledge economy.

Taking biotechnology as an event in the urban history of Cambridge reveals dimensions of the industry, and the high-technology or knowledge economy in general, that have often escaped historical notice. While the biotechnology industry is often seen as a matter of scientific research and speculative investment, the ability of firms to raise capital and conduct research was deeply tied to the spatial relationships they fostered—most notably their grudging realization of the need to be “within walking distance” of existing academic hubs of life science research. Of course, creating such places in densely occupied Cambridge soon drew biotechnology companies into contentious discussions over what the future of the city would look like and who could shape that future. The industry depended on creating alliances with real estate speculators, politicians, and university administrators. Far from the ethereal reaches of the knowledge economy, biotechnology was firmly rooted in these local processes. While this case is historically specific, I hope that it suggests some new ways of reckoning with the broader social impact of emerging technologies writ large.