Learning ecosystems in urban transformations: a research agenda

Abstract Current scholarship on urban transformation emphasizes the importance of learning, but the state of the art of research on learning dynamics in urban transformations is still conceptually and empirically fragmented. To address this deficit, we propose a research agenda and related conceptual apparatus that draws upon previous research in urban transformations and cognate fields. The proposed agenda is founded on the central concept of learning ecosystem and provides a conceptual tooling which can contribute to moving the field forward in its understanding of who learns what, how, where, when and to what effects in relation to urban transformations. The proposed agenda and conceptual framework contribute to the development of the field by providing an operationalizable array of concepts that can guide empirical research and by presenting an integrative framework for understanding learning in urban transformations which is compatible with established theoretical approaches in the field.