Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
sors an annual international competition which brings in over a hundred new stu-
dents to the local design schools and provides internships to those who graduate.
This is another attempt to maintain the city's position as a major world centre for de-
sign. The creation of wider networks of specialist knowledge activities outside the
city, in national and international terms, is also important to avoid isolation, thereby
allowing people in local clusters to gain knowledge of developments elsewhere. A
more general example of network creation comes from the utility of creating closer
and co-operative links between the local educational establishments and the city in
which they are located, while the maintenance of links with alumni also often pro-
vides access to knowledge and often finance for their former school.
Also essential are the establishment of knowledge-based agencies , whether pub-
lic or private, that are devoted to, and are expert in, the encouragement of this type
of development through the provision of services, or information on how to access
the range of services necessary for this type of growth. In the Kitchener-Waterloo
region the creation of Communitech (CT) in 1997 in one of Canada's major high-
tech areas provides an example of support for local innovators that helps develop
and commercialize new technologies. The organization moved into a 440,000 sq.
ft. renovated industrial building in 2010, helped by grants from the local region,
province and federal government. This provides a meeting and conference centre,
technology hub, room for start-ups, as well as being the organizational centre that
provides the varied types of assistance needed at different levels in the development
of new technology businesses, providing peer2peer support and contacts between
people with different skills. The organization claims to have helped over a thousand
companies with sales of $ 30 billion by 2013.
The previous examples show that supportive governance in the Association
Capital context is also crucial, but there are wider issues involved. In the context of
rights, it has already been noted how crucial is the ability of all people to participate
freely and easily in public information sites, with access to education and health
guaranteed through effective legal protection, as well as tolerance—issues that are
crucial parts of the Capability dimensions discussed in Chap. 3. In this context, of
course, the city usually has to correspond to the laws, institutions and practices of
the state. If they do not support personal freedoms and do not have effective con-
trols on exploitation, the laws can often be a constraint on growth, as seen in many
developing countries.
The fourth category within the Association Capital Domain, namely referential
capital , includes several factors that contribute to a city's capital assets. For exam-
ple, urban places need to develop a city intelligence system with skilled forecasters
and publicists to respond to economic and social challenges. Also the presence of a
clear, up-to date, single portal metropolitan website describing city plans, potentials
and available services and assistance for knowledge industries is helpful. In too
many cases the available government services are unclear and ineffective because
they are provided by a multitude of overlapping and often contradictory sources.
Given the increasing value of attracting skilled highly skilled immigrants it is also
useful to create an office or at least a portal to help immigrant adjustment . By solv-
ing residential, language and social problems quickly, they will quickly become
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