Urbanize or perish?

This paper explores the drivers behind a recent “urban turn” of planned knowledge locations in Europe. While acknowledging a general tendency towards more urbanity, we argue that a dense and diverse urban environment is not equally relevant for all types of knowledge-based activities because of nuanced workers’ preferences and innovation modes.

Based on a theory “considering different types of knowledge bases”, we suggest that activities that more intensively rely on symbolic knowledge (e.g., media, design) tend to have a stronger preference for urban settings, while this is less the case for activities based on analytical and synthetic knowledge (e.g., biotechnology and advanced engineering). We illustrate our thesis by three case studies: Kista Science Park in Stockholm, The Digital Hub in Dublin, and Biocant in Coimbra.

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