The making of knowledge cities: Melbourne’s knowledge-based urban development experience
Introduction
The last decade has witnessed a rapid evolution of the ‘knowledge city’ (KC) concept from early articulations of the ‘technopolis’ and ‘ideapolis’ into the ‘digital, intelligent or smart city’. The evolution of the concept corresponded to developing a path towards more viable, vibrant, and sustainable form of urban development. In turn, a city following the KC concept embarks on a strategic mission to firmly encourage and nurture locally focussed innovation, science and creativity within the context of an expanding knowledge economy and society. In this regard a KC can be seen as an integrated city, which physically and institutionally combines the functions of a science park with civic and residential functions. It offers one of the effective paradigms for the sustainable cities of the future (Yigitcanlar, 2007, Yigitcanlar and Martinez-Fernandez, 2007).
The KC concept has become attractive because it relates to interest among the city administrations in regional development policies, as it emphasises the development and advancement of technologies and socio-economic activities (Oh, 2002). Even though references to KCs can be traced back to about three decades (Ryser, 1994, Knight, 1995) and some ancestral cities have had a strong association with knowledge and wisdom, it was only recently that cities around the world started giving direct attention to knowledge-based urban development (KBUD) (Carrillo, 2004, Ovalle et al., 2004). This latter refocussing of interest of the KC idea not only drew upon the information and knowledge economies but also stressed that vibrant socio-cultural activities associated with conserved rich natural environments, quality built environments, the presence of tolerance and acceptance of multiculturalism, democratic, transparent and visionary governance, and enriched human capital play key roles (Florida, 2005, Baum et al., 2006).
This new concept of KC has caught the attention of international organisations, city administrations, research communities and practitioners during the last few years. Major international organisations such as World Bank, 1998, European Commission, 2000, United Nations, 2001, OECD, 2001 have adopted knowledge management frameworks in their strategic directions regarding global development. This array of strategies indicates the strength of the link that has emerged between knowledge management and urban development (Komninos, 2002, Ergazakis et al., 2006). The significant increase of KBUD strategies for the pursuit of metropolitan competitiveness of region is also evident in an OECD perspective (OECD, 2005) and is reiterated by city administrations as diverse as Barcelona City, 2003, Dublin Chamber of Commerce, 2004 and the Victorian Government (2002a) on behalf of the Melbourne metropolitan area.
From a research perspective it has become apparent that the nature of city development associated with activities in the knowledge sector requires conditions and environments which are different from commodity-based manufacturing (Knight, 1995). This understanding has emerged in a variety of KCs (i.e. Austin, Barcelona, Delft, Sao Paulo, and Stockholm) and has been expressed in KBUD frameworks (e.g. Larsen and Rogers, 1988, Chatzkel, 2004, Garcia, 2004). In these approaches it is apparent that KCs draw heavily upon the existing cultural and industrial foundations within a city as these act as attractors for knowledge workers. This means these systems emerge as key drivers for the city’s development. In this context the question arises as to whether KC development simply requires reshaping a city to act as a knowledge centre, or whether KC development is really part of the innovation and knowledge base associated with the continuing organic growth of the city.
The popularisation of the KC concept has fuelled many localised KBUD strategies and actions within many cities throughout the world, including Melbourne. It is also recognised that Melbourne has a strong economic and cultural foundation from which knowledge and creativity may be generated. Therefore, this paper analyses Melbourne’s KBUD experience to respond to the question asked above by scrutinising its initiatives on culture, science, technology and innovation and policies in urban, economic, and social development.
The structure of the remainder of this paper is as follows. The knowledge city concept section provides an overview of the KC concept by discussing some of the broad elements required in the development of a KC. The elements emphasise both the planned components of a KC and elements that are not planned but develop and emerge over time. The Melbourne experience section analyses Melbourne’s experiences and the implementation of key ingredients in KBUD. It emphasis the key roles state and local administrations have played in developing Melbourne as a globally recognised KC. Additionally, it also emphasises those components that cannot be planned, but are fundamental to Melbourne’s growth. Conclusion section concludes with arguing that Melbourne is an emerging KC. This section also provides some useful recommendations for policy makers of other cities seeking KBUD.
Section snippets
The knowledge city concept
KCs play a fundamental role in knowledge creation, economic growth and development. Edvinsson (2003) describes KC as a city that was purposefully designed to encourage the nurturing of knowledge. The notion of KC is interchangeable to a certain degree with similar evolving concepts such as ‘knowledge-based clusters’ (Arbonies and Moso, 2002), ‘ideopolis’ (Garcia, 2004) or ‘technopolis’ (Smilor et al., 1988). KC is also seen as an umbrella metaphor for geographical entities, which focus on
The Melbourne experience
Australia is one of the world’s fastest growing knowledge economies. In terms of size between 2004 and 2007 the Australian economy moved from 13th to 10th place in the global national economy ranking, and in terms of ‘ease of business’ and ‘starting a business’ its current rankings are 7th and 1st, respectively (Doing Business, 2007). In 2006, Australia ranked 15th in the ‘Global Networked Readiness Index’, a benchmarking tool to determine national progress in the impact of ICT on the world
Conclusions
‘The Most Admired Knowledge City Awards’ acknowledged Melbourne among the emerging KCs around the world that are successfully engaged in formal and systematic KBUD processes under the flag of KC (World Capital Institute, 2007). Melbourne’s KBUD accomplishment was mentioned for reasons particularly referring to its strength in “depend[ing] more on the assertive actions from its local leadership, and the kind of local resource management to achieve in shorter periods of time” (World Capital
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