Urban Knowledge Parks and Economic and Social Development Strategies

Abstract

Urban university-industry parks or, more generally, urban knowledge parks, represent a new and powerful instrument of urban economic and social development that can profoundly transform urban areas. By combining in a dense urban environment industry and institutions that generate and transmit knowledge, the parks, as exemplified by Polytechnic University's Metrotech, can respond to multiple urban needs. They require, however, an understanding of the most appropriate strategic choices (e.g., focus on high tech or low tech, on producers or users of technology, on large or small firms). Creation of the parks depends on the ability to establish effective coalitions with government and the community, and on a willingness to reexamine traditional urban planning theories. Ultimately, the success of an urban park also depends on a realistic understanding of its advantages and disadvantages, and on the ability of its sponsors and developers to master a complex process and a complex set of sociotechnological skills.