Urban Research in the Knowledge Economy: Content, Context and Outlook

As discourses of knowledge-based growth and their spatial implications have hold, the presuppositions about the relationship between urban research and require systematic re-evaluation. Universities have become implicated in growth coalitions, not only as estate managers, but also as strategic actors, or providers of evidence to inform policy. At the same time, the role of has been the subject of much debate, in terms of the need to demonstrate relevance, impact and value-added according to a range of economic, social, and environmental objectives. It is no longer only a question of what the means for the researcher but what research means for the city – and how those are mediated by the university as a site of knowledge production. In this article to the special issue, we examine these concerns via a discussion how changing socio-economic conditions create pressures on universities to ‘build knowledge cities’ and how they, in turn, relate to the contexts and cultures in urban research is produced.