Batty, M. and Barros, Joana and Alves Jr., S. (2005) The Dynamics of Cities. In: Bruzzo, A. and Occelli, S. (eds.) Le Relazioni Tra Conoscenza Ed Innovazione Nello Sviluppo Dei Territori. Franco Angeli: Milan, Italy. ISBN 9788846471109.
Abstract
Book synopsis: At a time like the present, in which profound changes, of varying territorial scope, are investing in our country, it seems appropriate to propose again to a classic food for thought (we might even say one of the 'primitive') of regional sciences, one related to relationships - not simple, nor discounted - between knowledge, innovation and regional development. It is declined compared to two drivers of change, epochal. The first has its causes in the general transformation of the institutional, administrative and organizational, urging the introduction of forms and ways of government (and management) and innovative, however, other than those attributable to the simple juxtaposition of various alternative stereotypes (state and market, local and global networks and hierarchies). The second, however, reflects the critical thinking that, from many sides, are advanced in order to the same assumptions that underlie the notions of development, welfare, wealth and sustainability. In addition to the qualitative and intangible dimensions with respect to which these notions are declined, other determinants are becoming more important today in guiding the conduct of socio-economic actors: the fact that a human agent is not just a homo economicus, but a homo socialis, a homo sapiens (an agent whose behavior is guided by a set of knowledge luggage), called to operate within a collective culture system (a global public good, distributed intelligence, a share capital), which in turn produced from acting of individual agents. The basic hypothesis that we advance in this book, in essence, is to admit that the knowledge, whether understood from a substantive point of view - in its implicit components, explicit and relational - or procedural terms - as a set of strategies to reduce the uncertainty that accompanies human action - encouraging the emergence of shared social values, bearers of meaning for all urban actors (individuals and organizations) and able to raise awareness of the individual. Of values, that is, able to facilitate the establishment of innovative community, in view of the complexity of this and the unpredictability of the future. This hypothesis constitutes a challenge for research, to the extent that the knowledge in question is accompanied by a permanent process of building, testing and consolidation that is not only the prerogative of the scientific world, but it also affects the conditions same action of the different actors involved in a civil society that is increasingly dynamic and articulate.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Book Section |
|---|---|
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Sarah Hall |
| Date Deposited: | 27 Oct 2016 09:58 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 17:27 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/16455 |
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