knowledge-creating milieus: firms, cities and regions
workshop
Università Iuav di Venezia
Unità di ricerca “Società Economia Territorio”
Technische Universität Berlin
Institut für Stadt–und Regional planung
in collaboration with
Confindustria Veneto
April 8th 2011
Badoer, room A
San Polo 2468, Venezia
It is a widely held opinion, also propounded in a number of academic works, that the main feature of the knowledge economy lies in the unprecedentedly wide use of knowledge that firms and industry in general have made in the last two-three decades. The persuasive power of this view is commonly grounded in the evidence of the substantial, if not dominant, share represented by “symbolic analysis activities” in the formation of the total GDP and total employment, mainly in the advanced economies. Another, more subtle, although not immediately provable view, suggests that the advent of the knowledge economy rests on the unprecedented knowledge revolution that is occurring within firms and thus within the very core of the social praxis –, and which had already taken place within the epistemological, aesthetic and cultural domains. More specifically, the idea is that firms and industry are now leaving the traditional/modern “Learning I” paradigm concerned with the “production and accumulation” of knowledge according to well-established cognitive codes, and moving towards the “Learning II” paradigm, dealing with the “generation and articulation” of cognitive codes.
The consequences of this shift are of the greatest importance. Conditions and factors that are reputed suitable for the enhancement of the knowledge generative aptitudes of individuals, groups and institutions diverge widely from those required for conventional knowledge production and accumulation. While the former could hypothetically be carried out within an isolated relationship between the individual observer and his/her observed world, “Learning II” inevitably takes place within a social context; and while noise, dissonance and ambiguity are clearly impediments to “Learning I”, they represent the “primary raw material” within the “Learning II” paradigm.
Against this background, the Workshop aims to explore the conditions that, at the different social and spatial scales – mainly, firms, cities and regions – lend themselves to the enhancement of individual and social aptitudes for the reshaping of cognitive codes, which is intended as the main matrix of creativeness. The theoretical analysis is supported by the results of empirical investigations made into Italian and German cases, with reference to the regional and urban geographies of the “knowledge-creating activities”.
9.00 – 9.30registration
9.30Luciano Vettoretto, Università Iuav di Venezia, Director of the Research Department
Welcome Address
morning session
Chairman: Dietrich Henckel, Technische Universität Berlin
9.40 Augusto Cusinato, Università Iuav di Venezia
“Milieu” and “Knowledge–creating Activities”: Two interpretative tools for the knowledge economy
10.00Paolo Garbolino, Università Iuav di Venezia
Science and society: The point of view of philosophy
10.20Giorgio De Michelis, Università di Milano Bicocca
Why knowledge is linked to space
10.40 Carla Simone, Università di Milano Bicocca
The multiple facets ofknowledge management within organizations
11.00 – 11.20coffee break
11.20 Fabiano Compagnucci, UniversitàIuav di Venezia
Industrial Districts and Cities in Italy: Reshaping relationships in the knowledge economy
11.40Riccardo Cappellin, Università di Roma Tor Vergata,
Cities and services: A cognitive approach
12.00 Camilla Costa, Università Iuav di Venezia
Creativity: Visibilities and invisibilities in urban space
12.20 Medardo Chiapponi, Università Iuav di Venezia
Design, knowledge and national culture
12.40discussion
13.00 lunch
afternoon session
Chairman: Antonio Calafati, Università Politecnica delle Marche
14.40 Roberto Santolamazza, Treviso Tecnologia
Creativity: Projects and services to develop an innovative connectivity in the field
15.00Stefano Miotto, Confidustria Veneto
Creativity and innovation for industry
15.20Dietrich Henckel, Technische Universität Berlin
The spatial structure of creative industries in Berlin
15.40 Ricarda Pätzold, Technische Universität Berlin
Rise and fall of creative neighbourhoods: The example of Berlin
16.00Francesco Gabbi, Università Iuav di Venezia
Enacting Berlin: The construction of a neighbourhood between practices, artifacts and narratives
16.20Chiara Mazzoleni, Università Iuav di Venezia
New industry formation in contemporary inner-city, urban renewal processes and policy measures: Evidence from thestudy cases of Milan and Barcelona
16.40discussion
17.30end of workshop
scientific committee
Antonio Calafati, Università Politecnica delle Marche
Roberto Camagni, Politecnico di Milano
Augusto Cusinato, Università Iuav di Venezia
Dietrich Henckel, Technische Universität Berlin
