In the globalizing world, knowledge and information (and the social and technological settings for their production and communication) are now seen as keys to economic prosperity. The economy of a knowledge city creates value-added products using research, technology, and brainpower. The social benefit of knowledge-based urban development (KBUD); however, extends beyond aggregate economic growth.

Knowledge-Based Urban Development: Planning and Applications in the Information Era covers the theoretical, thematic, and country-specific issues of knowledge cities to underline the growing importance of KBUD all around the world, providing academics, researchers, and practitioners with substantive research on the decisive lineaments of urban development for knowledge-based production (drawing attention to new planning processes to foster such development), and worldwide best practices and case studies in the field of urban development.