Urban Knowledge and Innovation Spaces

Abstract

The effects of globalization, urbanization, and deindustrialization, particularly in the twenty-first century, are rapidly changing contemporary local economies, forcing cities across the world to adopt advanced information and communication technologies (ICTs), and pushing them to become more innovative and thus competitive (Bulu, 2011; Lee et al., 2014; Yigitcanlar and Lee, 2014). In this era of global rivalry, the key driver of penetration in global knowledge markets is excelling in the knowledge economy by adopting innovative mechanisms for knowledge generation (Bulu et al., 2014; Pancholi et al., 2014). For this reason, many cities are pursuing knowledge-based urban development (KBUD). As a popular development approach, KBUD aims to bring economic prosperity, environmental sustainability, a just socio-spatial order, and good governance to cities. This development model also encourages the production and circulation of knowledge in an environmentally conserved, economically secure, socially just, and well governed human setting—a knowledge city (Bulu, 2014; Yigitcanlar, 2014). This is to say, following a robust KBUD pathway may create cities that address the economic, social, spatial, and institutional needs of their inhabitants (Carrillo et al., 2014).