Planning for knowledge based urban development in Malaysia : Cyberjaya @ Multimedia Super Corridor

Knowledge based urban development (KBUD) is a new paradigm in urban planning tailoring to the era of knowledge economy. It aims mainly to assist a contemporary city to promote a more sustainable socio-spatial order. The paper reports on the investigation of KBUD initiative in Malaysia which is manifested through the establishment of a project called Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC). MSC Malaysia aims to attract knowledge workers and industries to invest and operate within the area by creating a world class urban corridor with state-of-the-art multimedia infrastructure, efficient transportation system and an attractive living environment. Based on documents analysis and interviews, this paper analyses the strategies, implementations, and achievements of KBUD initiative in Cyberjaya, being the leading intelligent city of the unique Malaysia’s KBUD project-MSC Malaysia. A critical evaluation is made to assess the achievements of MSC, by looking at the physical changes after about ten years since its official launching. The findings recommend some valuable lessons for other cities that strive to develop KBUD strategies, strengthen their sustainable socio-spatial policies, and seek a global recognition.

Editorial : International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development

The International Journal of Knowledge Based Development is planned to serve as a platform for the Global Knowledge Based Development Community to exchange academic and professional knowledge and experience, and adopt the learnings in different corners of the globe to achieve a sustainable knowledge-based development. The journal is put together by the executive team of an international think tank (The World Capital Institute – www.worldcapitalinstitute.org). As an international non-profit organization, The World Capital Institute aims to further advance the understanding and application of knowledge capital as the most powerful leverage for development in micro (i.e. individuals-neighborhoods-firms) , mezzo (i.e. communities-cities-clusters), macro (i.e. societies-nations), and supra-macro (supranational-global) levels.

Tampere region under the microscope : a critical analysis from the knowledge perspective

Purpose – In the context of global knowledge economy, knowledge-based urban development (KBUD) is seen as an effective development strategy for city-regions to survive, flourish and become highly competitive urban agglomerations – i.e., a knowledge city-region. This paper aims to evaluate the KBUD dynamics, capacity and potentials of a rapidly emerging knowledge city-region of Finland – Tampere region. Design/methodology/approach – The paper undertakes a review of the literature on regional development in the knowledge economy era. It adopts a qualitative analysis technique to scrutinize the dynamics, capacity and potentials of Tampere region. The semi-structured interview process starts with the pre-determined key actors of the city-region with an aim of determining the other key players. Next, with the participation of all key players to the interviews, the research reveals the principal issues, assets and mechanisms that relate to KBUD, and portrays the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the city-region. A critical analysis of the findings along with the previous studies is undertaken to provide a clear picture of the dynamics, capacity and potentials of the emerging knowledge city-region. Originality/value – This paper reports the findings of a pioneering study focusing on the investigation of the KBUD dynamics, capacity and potentials of Tampere region. The paper critically evaluates the city-region from the knowledge perspective with the lens of KBUD, and the lessons learned and the methodological approach of the paper shed light to other city-regions seeking such development. Practical implications – The paper discusses the findings of a study from Tampere region that critically scrutinizes the KBUD experience of the city-region. The research provides an invaluable opportunity to inform the regional decision-, policy- and plan-making mechanisms by determining key issues, actors, assets, processes and potential development directions for the KBUD of Tampere region.

Building prosperous knowledge cities : policies, plans and metrics

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.

UK Design as a Global Industry : International Trade and Intellectual Property

The importance of design to the UK economy is widely recognised. It is one of the key pillars of the knowledge economy, it plays an important role in the innovation process, and it is one of a number of specialisms that help to set the UK apart from global competition. But despite this importance, the nature of design-intensive industries – the businesses that practice and sell design – is remarkably hard to pin down. This uncertainty renders it hard to analyse, and makes it difficult to develop clear, consistent policies to support the designers. The Hargreaves Review recommended that more research was needed to develop a clear evidence base for improving the intellectual property system for design. This report forms part of that evidence base. It examines how UK design figures in the global economy, and considers how the intellectual property system can best support its growth.

Upwave cities, creative cities : the case of London

The saddest book on cities I have read in a long time is The Lost City of Stoke-on-Trent by Matthew Rice (2010). Rice, who is married to the pottery owner Emma Bridgewater, charts the long decline of the potteries since the 1970s, when many brands closed local potteries to move overseas to Indonesia. There are now only a dozen or so potteries left in Stoke and many jobs that once were there have simply vanished. Yet at one time, Stoke was a place of great wealth creation, innovation and industriousness. The lesson is that once a local economy loses its dynamism, the place itself stagnates and may even die. Stoke is to the UK what Detroit is to the USA. Rice also shows that successive attempts at urban renewal have largely failed to make any impact in reversing Stoke’s declining fortunes. Economic stagnation and decline occurs in real places, leaving multiple economic, social and cultural problems in its wake. Over a period of years, local communities and residents gradually grow poorer, as wealth leaks away to other places.

Making space for knowledge generation and place for knowledge communities : an analysis of the Australian practice

In the era of global knowledge economy, urban regions—seeking to increase their competitive edge, become destinations for talent and investment, and provide prosperity and quality of life to their inhabitants—have little chance achieving their development goals without forming effective knowledge-based urban development strategies. This paper aims to shed light on the planning and development processes of the knowledge-based urban development phenomenon with respect to the construction of knowledge community precincts aimed at making space for knowledge generation and place for knowledge communities. Following to a thorough review of the literature on knowledge-based urban development and strategic asset-based planning, the paper undertakes policy and best practice analyses to learn from the planning and development processes of internationally renowned knowledge community precincts—from Copenhagen, Eindhoven and Singapore. In the light of the analyses findings, this paper scrutinises major Australian knowledge community precinct initiatives—from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane—to better understand the dynamics of national practices, and benchmark them against the international best practice cases. The paper concludes with a discussion on the study findings and recommendations for successfully establishing space and place for both knowledge economy and society in Australian cities.

Benchmarking knowledge-based urban development performance : Results from the international comparison of Helsinki

In the era of a global knowledge economy, urban regions that seek to increase their competitive edge, become destinations for talent and investment and provide prosperity and high quality of life to their inhabitants have little chance of achieving these goals without forming effective knowledge-based urban development strategies. The research reported in this paper aims to address the questions of how a knowledge-based urban development performance measurement can be undertaken and the value contribution of such measurement. The paper focuses on the city of Helsinki. This empirical study analytically investigates Helsinki’s performance from the lens of knowledge-based urban development by comparing this urban region with eight international competitors, Boston, San Francisco, Birmingham, Manchester, Melbourne, Sydney, Toronto, and Vancouver. The results of the study not only reveal a clearer understanding of Helsinki’s benchmarked performance and competitive edge considering the regional policy context along with strategic directions in strengthening its international standing and competitiveness but also provide useful insights for other urban regions that aspire to such development.

Checking-in at the library : designing an ambient media system for social learning and collaboration opportunities

The knowledge economy of the 21st century requires skills such as creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, communication and collaboration (Partnership for 21st century skills, 2011) – skills that cannot easily be learnt from books, but rather through learning-by-doing and social interaction. Big ideas and disruptive innovation often result from collaboration between individuals from diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise. Public libraries, as facilitators of education and knowledge, have been actively seeking responses to such changing needs of the general public...

Hypercapitalism : language, new media and social perceptions of value

Using examples from contemporary policy and business discourses, and exemplary historical texts dealing with the notion of value, I put forward an argument as to why a critical scholarship that draws on media history, language analysis, philosophy and political economy is necessary to understand the dynamics of what is being called 'the global knowledge economy'. I argue that the social changes associated with new modes of value determination are closely associated with new media forms.

Sustainable knowledge community precincts : lessons from global best practices

In the era of global knowledge economy, urban regions—seeking to increase their competitive edge, become destinations for talent and investment, and provide prosperity and quality of life to their inhabitants—have little chance achieving their development goals without forming effective knowledge-based urban development (KBUD) strategies. KBUD paradigm suggests that the economic future of cities increasingly depends on the capacity to attract, generate, retain and foster creativity, knowledge and innovation—and make space and place for knowledge generation and knowledge communities. Thus, the paper aims to shed light on the planning and development processes of the KBUD phenomenon with respect to the construction of sustainable knowledge community precincts (KCPs) aimed at making space for knowledge generation and place for knowledge communities—and provide useful lessons for the developing country cities seeking such sustainable and KBUD.

Building contemporary urban spaces of knowledge and innovation : Lessons from Australian practice

In the era of global knowledge economy, urban regions that are seeking to increase their competitive edge, become destinations for talent and investment, and provide prosperity and quality of life to their inhabitants have little chance achieving their development goals without forming effective knowledge-based urban development strategies. This paper aims to shed light on the planning and development of the knowledge-based urban development phenomenon with respect to the construction of knowledge community precincts aimed at building contemporary urban spaces of knowledge and innovation. Following to a thorough review of the literature on knowledge-based urban development, the paper undertakes policy and best practice analyses to learn from the internationally renowned Australian knowledge community precincts, from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, to better understand the dynamics of knowledge community precinct development practices. The paper provides a discussion on the study findings and recommendations for successfully establishing contemporary urban spaces of knowledge and innovation.

Making space and place for knowledge communities : lessons for Australian practice

This paper aims to shed light on the planning and development processes of the knowledge-based urban development phenomenon, with respect to the construction of knowledge community precincts. We undertake policy and best practice analyses to learn from the planning and development processes of internationally renowned knowledge community precincts—from Copenhagen, Eindhoven and Singapore. In the light of this, we scrutinise major Australian knowledge community precinct initiatives—from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane—to better understand the dynamics of national practices, and benchmark them against the international best practice cases. The paper concludes with a discussion on the study findings and successfully establishing space and place for both knowledge economy and society in Australian cities.

Knowledge-based urban development performance analysis : moving towards an integrated system

Knowledge-based urban development (KBUD) has become the new development paradigm for the cities of the global knowledge economy era. Nevertheless, to date international KBUD performance analysis of prosperous knowledge cities is understudied. This paper, therefore, introduces the methodology and application of a novel performance analysis approach to comprehensively scrutinise the global perspectives on KBUD of cities—i.e., The KBUD Assessment Model (KBUD/AM). This indexing model puts 11 renowned knowledge cities—i.e., Birmingham, Boston, Brisbane, Helsinki, Istanbul, Manchester, Melbourne, San Francisco, Sydney, Toronto, Vancouver—under the KBUD microscope to provide a benchmarked international outlook. The results of the indexing provide internationally benchmarked snapshot of the degree of achievements in various KBUD performance areas. This paper discusses the further development avenues and potentialities of the index to become an integrated system for the policy-making circles of cities to benchmark themselves against their competitors and develop relevant KBUD policies.

Proceedings of the 6th Knowledge Cities World Summit, KCWS 2013

In recent years, with the impact of global knowledge economy, a more comprehensive development approach has gained significant popularity. This new development approach, so called ‘knowledge-based urban development’, is different from its traditional predecessor. With a much more balanced focus on all of the four key development domains – economic, spatial, institutional, and socio-cultural – this contemporary approach, aims to bring economic prosperity, environmental sustainability and local institutional competence with a just socio-spatial order to our cities and regions. The ultimate goal of knowledgebased urban development is to produce a city purposefully designed to encourage the continuous production, circulation and commercialization of social and scientific knowledge – this will in turn establish a ‘knowledge city’. A city following the ‘knowledge city’ concept embarks on a strategic mission to firmly encourage and nurture locally focused innovation, science and creativity within the context of an expanding knowledge economy and society. In this regard a ‘knowledge city’ can be seen as an integrated city, which physically and institutionally combines the functions of a science and technology park with civic and residential functions and urban amenities. It also offers one of the effective paradigms for the sustainable cities of our time. This sixth edition of KCWS – The 6th Knowledge Cities World Summit 2013 – makes an important reminder that the ‘knowledge city’ concept is a key notion in the 21st Century development. Considering this notion, the Summit sheds light on the multifaceted dimensions and various scales of building a ‘knowledge city’ via ‘knowledge-based urban development’ paradigm by particularly focusing on the overall Summit theme of ‘Establishing Bridges’. At this summit, the theoretical and practical maturing of knowledge-based development paradigms are advanced through the interplay between the world’s leading academics’ theories and the practical models and strategies of practitioners’ and policy makers’ drawn from around the world. This summit proceeding is compiled in order to disseminate the knowledge generated and shared in KCWS 2013 with the wider research, governance, and practice communities the knowledge co-created in this summit. All papers of this proceeding have gone through a double-blind peer review process and been reviewed by our summit editorial review and advisory board members. We, organizers of the summit, cordially thank the members of the Summit Proceeding Editorial Review and Advisory Board for their diligent work in the review of the papers. Also we thank Prof.Dr. Ahmet Ademoğlu, Rector of İstanbul Şehir University, for providing all the support for the Summit. We hope the papers in this proceeding will inspire and make a significant contribution to the research, governance, and practice circles.