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wider notions of the science city, the technopolis and the regional innovation
system is being stretched even further with very recent initiatives that seek to
directly confront the notion of an informational society (Castells
1989
; Van Den
Berg and Van Winden
2002
). In these approaches, such as digital cities, 'Smart'
cities, intelligent and creative cities, Komninos (
2002
) believes: ''the typical city at
the end of the twentieth century where the functions of industry, services, trade,
housing, recreation, education and so on dominate is gradually conceding its
position to a new urban system where the basic components (universities,
exchange malls, industrial districts, science parks, recreation zones, etc.) operate
on two levels, in the three-dimensional natural world and the virtual space of the
Internet. The integration of these levels creates a reality much more complex than
before but with increased capability for supporting individuals and organisations
hosted by them. Intelligent cities see the merging of these two worlds.'' In practice
one movement for transforming cities in relation to new knowledge and tech-
nology conditions in this way is the Smart Communities project in California,
which focuses on promoting the philosophy and application of the information
society at the level of cities and regions. A smart community is simply a com-
munity in which government, business and residents understand the potential of
information technology and make a conscious decision to use that technology to
transform life and work in their region in significant and positive ways. The
rationale for the movement stands on the human interaction and social cooperation
that are needed for making a smart community ''Market forces may generate new
technologies, but they do not give rise to smart communities; only people do—
people with a vision, with a commitment to change, with a willingness to work
together with others in their community to achieve a common purpose'' (SMART
Cities Guide Book 2002).
At the end of this review is it possible to draw out some overall and strategic
lessons and reflections from these apparently disparate practices, especially with
respect to the underlying concern of this chapter with uneven spatial development?
Do general ideas and concepts underpin the models, and are there alternative
strategic frameworks or approaches that emerge when ideas are mapped onto
specific regions and cities in practice? It might be argued that the first attempts to
establish science parks, technology parks and innovation centres with support of
state policies were a phenomena giving expression to some form of localism. The
projects were largely local initiatives, each in different ways seeking to capitalise
on assets in their areas that were taking on new roles (such as universities) or
offering the potential to create value in new ways (such as technology transfer
mechanisms). In a period of severe economic restructuring these assets were often
used to seek competitive advantage over other local areas or regions. Investments
in land and property were used to create spaces to capture and retain tacit, codified
and institutionalised knowledge. But as the model was adopted elsewhere, it also
became perceived as a tool within policies to stimulate growth (new business start
ups) and attract new assets (such as high-tech-based FDI) to the localities. Such a
set of approaches were likely to help those areas with a strong asset base over the
worst off and more traditional industrial areas. Therefore, when these localised
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