Creative Knowledge Cities

This book pragmatically explores the myths, concepts, policies, key conditions and tools for enhancing creative knowledge cities. The authors provide a critical reflection on the reality of city concepts including university-city alignment for campus planning, labour market conditions, social capital and proximity, triple helix based transformation, and learning by city governments. Original examples from both the EU and US are complemented by detailed case studies of cities including Rotterdam, Vienna and Munich. The book also examines the reality of knowledge cities in emerging economies such as Brazil and China, with a focus on institutional transferability. Key conditions addressed include soft infrastructure, knowledge spillovers among firms and the connectivity of cities via transport networks to allow the creation of new hubs of knowledge-based services.

Discussing global society entails discussing the predominant characteristics of knowledge-based activities in all walks of life. Its main characteristics are based on creativity, innovation, freedom, and networking. The emergence of such a society poses several challenges to all disciplines of social sciences. Within such a context, sociologists must have practical encounters to the theoretical, methodological, and empirical challenges imposed within contemporary global society. In this vein, studying creative cities from an interdisciplinary perspective helps provide critical readings of the phenomenon and the different levels of the concept in reality. The Handbook of Research on Creative Cities and Advanced Models for Knowledge-Based Urban Development provides global models and best practices of creative cities worldwide and illustrates different theoretical blueprints for the better understanding of contemporary global society. While defining key concepts of creative cities, global society, and creative class, the book also clarifies the main differences between hubs, parks, and precincts and their contributions to knowledge-based development. Covering topics that include knowledge economy, social inclusion, and urban mobility, this comprehensive reference is ideal for sociologists, urban planners/designers, political scientists, economists, anthropologists, historians, policymakers, researchers, academicians, and students.

Explores the utilization of urban technology to support knowledge city initiatives, providing fundamental techniques and processes for the successful integration of information technologies and urban production. Presents research on a multitude of cutting-edge urban information communication technology issues.

This book challenges the new urban growth concepts of the creative class and creative industries from a critical urban theory perspective. Critiques Richard Florida's popular books about cities and the creative class Presents an alternative approach based on analyses of empirical research data concerning the German urban system and the case study regions, Hanover and Berlin Underscores that the culture industry takes a leading role in conforming with neoliberal conceptions of labor markets

Foreword: Competing: Important Stimuli for Knowledge Cities to Become Prosperous / Peter Franz -- Preface: Introducing: Knowledge-based Development of Prosperous Knowledge Cities / Tan Yigitcanlar, Kostas Metaxiotis and Javier Carrillo -- Pt. I. Policies for building prosperous knowledge cities -- 1. Innovating: Creativity, Innovation and the Role of Cities in the Globalising Knowledge Economy / Bjorn Asheim -- 2. Creating: The Creative Class-based Knowledge City Models of Denmark / Mark Lorenzen, Kristina Vaarst Andersen and Stine Laursen -- 3. Organising: Spontaneously-developed Urban Technology Precincts / Gulnur Cevikayak and Koray Velibeyoglu -- 4. Globalising: What Makes Australian Information Technology Industry Companies Go Global? / Glen Searle and Kevin O'Connor -- 5. Attracting: The Coffeeless Urban Cafe and the Attraction of Urban Space / Kirsten Martinus -- 6. Researching: Key Factors for the Success of Knowledge Cities in Germany / Stefanie Wesselmann, Clas Meyer and Rainer Lisowski -- 7. Participating: Knowledge Citizens' Competences and Knowledge City Transformation / Octavio Gonzalez, Rodolfo Wilhelmy, Santiago Cavazos and America Martinez -- Pt. II. Plans for building prosperous knowledge cities -- 8. Piloting: Knowledge-based Development Policy and Practice in Building a Vibrant Ecosystem / Cathy Garner and Anne Dornan -- 9. Formulating: An Integrated Strategy for the Development of Knowledge Cities / Kostas Metaxiotis and Kostas Ergazakis -- 10. Designing: Combining Design and High-tech Industries in the Knowledge City of Eindhoven / Ana Maria Fernandez-Maldonado -- 11. Clustering: Concentration of the Knowledge-based Economy in Sydney / Richard Hu -- 12. Connecting: Community Supported Universities for Knowledge City Transformation / Ana Cristina Fachinelli and Janaina Macke -- 13. Promoting: Programs for and Challenges of the Knowledge-based Small Business / Kay Imukuka, Bhishna Bajracharya, Linda Too and Greg Hearn -- 14. Enterprising: Academics, Knowledge Capital and Towards PASCAL Universities / James Powell -- 15. Transforming: Turning Knowledge Cities into a Knowledge Region / Caren Heidemann, Klaus R. Kunzmann and Klaus Wermker -- Pt. III. Metrics for building prosperous knowledge cities -- 16. Commuting: The Geography of Melbourne's Knowledge Economy / Kevin Johnson -- 17. Measuring: Knowledge-based Development Metrics, Evolution and Perspectives / Francisco Javier Carrillo and Ricardo Emmanuel Flores -- 18. Comparing: Knowledge-based Urban Development of Vancouver, Melbourne, Manchester and Boston / Tan Yigitcanlar -- 19. Benchmarking: Knowledge-based Development Metrics through the MAKCi Exercise / Alicia Leal and Blanca Garcia -- 20. Afterword Concluding: Directions for Building Prosperous Knowledge Cities / Joris van Wazemael.

Richard Florida outlines how certain cities succeed in attracting members of the 'creative class' - the key economic growth asset - and argues that, in order to prosper, cities must harness this creative potential.

With the publication of The Rise of the Creative Class by Richard Florida in 2002, the 'creative city' became the new hot topic among urban policymakers, planners and economists. Florida has developed one of three path-breaking theories about the relationship between creative individuals and urban environments. The economist Åke E. Andersson and the psychologist Dean Simonton are the other members of this 'creative troika'. In the Handbook of Creative Cities, Florida, Andersson and Simonton appear in the same volume for the first time. The expert contributors in this timely Handbook extend their insights with a varied set of theoretical and empirical tools. The diversity of the contributions reflect the multidisciplinary nature of creative city theorizing, which encompasses urban economics, economic geography, social psychology, urban sociology, and urban planning. The stated policy implications are equally diverse, ranging from libertarian to social democratic visions of our shared creative and urban future. Being truly international in its scope, this major Handbook will be particularly useful for policy makers that are involved in urban development, academics in urban economics, economic geography, urban sociology, social psychology, and urban planning, as well as graduate and advanced undergraduate students across the social sciences and in business.

"Brings together a group of disstinguished scholars and practitioners from around the world to outline the theory, describe cases, and identify issues for the understanding and development of knowledge cities." - cover.

This unique book reveals the procedural aspects of knowledge-based urban planning, development and assessment. Concentrating on major knowledge city building processes, and providing state-of-the-art experiences and perspectives, this important compendium explores innovative models, approaches and lessons learnt from a number of key case studies across the world. Many cities worldwide, in order to brand themselves as knowledge cities, have undergone major transformations in the 21st century. This book provides a thorough understanding of these transformations and the key issues in building prosperous knowledge cities by focusing particularly on the policy-making, planning process and performance assessment aspects. The contributors reveal theoretical and conceptual foundations of knowledge cities and their development approach of knowledge-based urban development. They present best-practice examples from a number of key case studies across the globe. This important book provides readers with a thorough understanding of the key issues in planning and developing prosperous knowledge cities of the knowledge economy era, which will prove invaluable to national, state/regional and city governments' planning and development departments. Academics, postgraduate and undergraduate students of regional and urban studies will also find this path-breaking book an intriguing read.