TY - BOOK AU - Méndez,Ricardo AU - Sánchez Moral,Simón TI - Spanish cities in the knowledge economy: Theoretical debates and empirical evidence SN - 09697764 AV - HT395 EUR PY - 2011/// CY - London PB - sage KW - Knowledge economy KW - Theoretical debates KW - Empirical evidence N2 - The article begins with a critical review of the multiplication of concepts today regarding the interrelationships between knowledge and urban development. An overview is given of complementary perspectives, such as knowledge-based cities, learning cities, intelligent cities and creative cities, as the foundation for the proposal that there are four main channels whereby cities join the knowledge society: by innovation systems, by economic structure, by human capital and by networking. On this basis Spanish cities are subjected to a comparative analysis of their knowledge indicators in each of these four components. From the exploratory analysis it is concluded that a sizeable share of Spanish cities are not involved in the process of joining the knowledge society. The rest of the cities are observed to follow one of two contrasting trajectories: cities in metropolitan sectors that are highly prized socially and environmentally have strengthened the presence of knowledge-intensive services and highly qualified human resources, while medium-sized and small cities have specialized in industries of an average or low technological intensity but have made a considerable innovative effort. The text concludes with a reflection on the challenge for local stakeholders to use knowledge to improve the multiple dimensions of urban development UR - https://doi.org/10.1177/0969776410381039 ER -