The Dutch city of Eindhoven constitutes a remarkable case of knowledge-based urban development (KBUD). Less than 25 years ago, Eindhoven was an industrial town deeply affected by economic and social decline due to processes of deindustrialisation. Since then, Eindhoven and its surrounding region have successfully transformed into the major technology node of the Netherlands. This achievement is mainly based on high and medium tech development, carefully complemented with activities and institutions linked to (creative) design, as well as a careful attention to socio-spatial issues, all them steered by public-private cooperation. The paper examines the roles of knowledge and technology, quality of place and organisational capacity in mutual coherence to produce prosperity, delivering projects that could benefit all people of Eindhoven and its region South East Brabant. The results point out the capital importance of achieving consensus between the regional partners to elaborate and commit to a shared vision of the future development. The main conclusion is that the industrial reconversion of Eindhoven has been shaped by projects and processes which have been the fruit of regional synergy, driven by the region's remarkable organisational qualities.
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Fernández-Maldonado et al. (2010) studied this question.