Revisiting the ‘Informational City’: Space of Flows, Polycentricity and the Geography of Knowledge-Intensive Business Services in the Emerging Global City-Region of Dublin

Abstract

SOKOL M., VAN EGERAAT C. and WILLIAMS B. Revisiting the 'informational city': space of flows, polycentricity and the geography of knowledge-intensive business services in the emerging global city-region of Dublin, Regional Studies. The paper engages with the notion that the new spatial logic, underpinned by information and communication technology (ICT) and the 'space of flows', manifests itself in the form of 'informational cities' described as multinuclear spatial structures or polycentric city-regions in the knowledge-based economy. Focusing on the geography of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS), the paper argues that there is little evidence of such polycentric pattern emerging within the Greater Dublin Region, Ireland. The exploration of factors underpinning weak decentralization tendencies of KIBS opens for reconsideration the concept of the 'informational city'. Knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS)Polycentricity City-region Dublin SOKOL M., VAN EGERAAT C. et WILLIAMS B. Revisiter la cité de l'information: espace de flux, polycentricité et géographie des secteurs à haute densité intellectuelle aux entreprises basés sur la connaissance dans la nouvelle ville-région de Dublin, Regional Studies. Cet article s'intéresse au fait que la nouvelle logique spatiale, sous-tendue par les technologies de l'information et de la communication (TIC) et les espaces de flux se manifeste sous la forme de cités de l'information décrites comme des structures spatiales à noyaux multiples ou de villes-régions polycentriques dans l'économie de la connaissance. S'appuyant essentiellement sur la géographie des secteurs à haute densité intellectuelle (KIBS), les auteurs font valoir qu'il y a peu de preuves de l'émergence de tels modèles polycentriques au sein du grand Dublin. L'analyse de facteurs confirmant de faibles tendances à la décentralisation des KIBS invite à reconsidérer le concept de cité de l'information.

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“…2017)), whose presence in Dublin is predicated upon otherwise smooth relational flows (transatlantic, Anglo‐Irish and with major financial centres in Europe and the Gulf) of people, capital and information (Sokol et al . 2008). Pressure will surely come from these quarters to ensure an earlier opening of air‐passenger traffic than public health officials might like.…”

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