A New Strategic Approach to Science Cities: Towards the Achievement of Sustainable and Balanced Spatial Development - Technopolis: Best Practices for Science and Technology Cities - page 15

the nature and extent of interactions among actors in the innovation system'' (Acs
2002 ).
Such normative constructions would appear to be able to address the challenge
of the new global knowledge economy, where the new geography of economies is
supposedly ''not the result of natural endowments of land, labour and capital, as
economists have long thought. Rather it is powered by innovation and entrepre-
neurship; and this in turn is the product of real people acting in real places. In other
words, the factors that really matter are the ones we create ourselves. We do this
by recombining the knowledge and other resources in new and novel ways. What
is more, some places are better than others at doing this. That is because they are
able to attract, mobilize and connect the factors that really matter—innovative
people and creative entrepreneurs'' Richard Florida (Florida and ( 2001 ) Foreword
in Acs 2002 ). The attractiveness of the normative set of values and associations
inherent in this model are exhibited in the way that 'science city' has also become
used as a way of branding existing cities, either those already knowledge economy
rich (e.g. Science City York, in the north of England) or those undergoing
restructuring and that use the notion as a way to organise and promote urban assets
(e.g. Newcastle Science City, in the north east of England). In both these cases the
knowledge base largely resides within higher education institutions. As Castells
and Hall (1997) remind us, the first type of technopole consisted of industrial
complexes of high-technology firms that were built on the basis of innovative
milieu. They assert that these complexes, linking R&D and manufacturing, were
the true command centres of the new industrial space, and arose without deliberate
planning, though governments and universities did play a crucial role in their
development.
Despite such imperative claims for supporting and encouraging certain nor-
mative constructs of economic growth, UNESCO highlights, ''there can be few
more pressing and critical goals for the future of humankind than to ensure steady
improvement in the quality of life for this and future generations, in a way that
respects our common heritage—the planet we live on. As people we seek positive
change for ourselves, our children and grandchildren; we must do it in ways that
respect the right of all to do so. To do this we must learn constantly—about
ourselves, our potential, our limitations, our relationships, our society, our envi-
ronment, our world. Achieving sustainable development is a life-wide and lifelong
endeavour which challenges individuals, institutions and societies to view
tomorrow as a day that belongs to all of us, or it will not belong to anyone''
(UNESCO Decade for Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014).
In the United Kingdom (HMG 2005 ) these broad goals have been translated
into eight core areas of activity in an attempt to ensure the future planning of
'sustainable communities':
1. Governance—well run, with effective and inclusive participation, representa-
tion and leadership.
2. Connectivity—well connected, with good transport services and communica-
tion linking people to jobs, schools, health and other services.