MANAGING THE KNOWLEDGE-BASED DEVELOPMENT OF A CITY-REGION

Knowledge-based development thinking suggests that knowledge should be managed as a part of regional planning and development. However, there is a lack of research describing the actual needs of the regional development professionals concerning knowledge-based management. Also, the implications of the regional management context on applying knowledge-based approaches are not clear. This paper scrutinizes the specific requirements of managing knowledge at regional level through literature review and through a qualitative case study of Tampere region in Finland. The findings show that regional knowledge is a challenging management object because it has varying definitions and interpretations, it is immaterial and it is largely embedded in humans. Moreover, the regional context makes the management of knowledge difficult due to the complex and dynamic operating environment and due to the networked and informal nature of regional management context. The empirical insights provide concrete evidence on how these challenges manifest in practice.