The Knowledgeable City: A Networked, Knowledge-Based Strategy for Local Governance and Urban Development

Abstract

This paper describes a new urban management and planning strategy for cities in the Information Age, which face unprecedented levels of complexity and uncertainty driven by globalization and the free flow of information and capital. The strategy is based on two synergistic themes. The first is the development of an open, networked form of local governance that involves public, private, and civic sectors in maintaining and fostering the economic, social, and cultural resources of the city.

The second theme is the purposeful management of the â local knowledge infrastructure:â the combination of networked economic, social and cultural knowledge resources that makes each city unique, and is therefore a chief asset of the city. The quality, depth and diversity of local knowledge infrastructure becomes a primary focus of local governance, resulting in the articulation of a balanced, knowledge-based development strategy. The paper concludes with an assessment of the World Wide Web as a technical platform to support the networked urban governance and local knowledge infrastructure processes required for the â knowledgeable city.â