The Development of the Successful City in the Knowledge Economy: Toward the Dual Role of Consumer Hub and Knowledge Hub

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the urbanization phenomenon and to present the characteristics of the city in the knowledge era. In the knowledge era, we argue that a successful city assumes the role of: (a) a knowledge hub, because large cities host high-tech industries, corporate headquarters of multinational companies, higher education and research institutions, and knowledge-intensive business services, including consulting, financial services and insurance, legal services, and accounting and (b) a consumer hub, which generates consumption, especially of an intangible nature such as services, culture, entertainment, and products which spread culture and knowledge (e.g., fashion and design products). This paper aims to provide a conceptual framework to understand the key factors (education systems and research, development of institutions providing services, logistic infrastructures, and so on) useful to the development and success of the city; in this framework, we distinguish between built-in assets and dictated policies. We examine one specific Italian city (Genoa) that has evolved as a knowledge and consumer hub