Knowledge Based Development (KBD)
The dominant view of KBD stems from the intention to leverage aggregate production though k-intensive factors (science and technology, education, and innovation).
A corollary of that view is that a KBD policy aims at improving global competitiveness of a given collective (city, region, and nation) through the attraction, retention, multiplication and capitalisation of k-intensive resources.
Knowledge Cities (KC)
Hence, the knowledge city is still an uncharted territory. Upon the layers of territory, infrastructure, urban landscape and economic activity that shaped the modern industrial city, new layers of identity capital, relational capital, human capital, cultural capital and other forms of increasingly recognized value are giving rise to innovative forms of urban coexistence.
Alternative Economics (AltEcon)
The major theme that WCI has set itself is to fuel the discourse on how we want to see our society shaped in the new age of the Anthropocene. Seen in this light, the social sciences should actually be the ones to at least provide us with the reference models on the basis of which we want to develop our ideas about a desired, "thinkable" society. The two WCI publications published by Edward Elgar provide a wealth of material to substantially enrich this discussion on shaping the future.
City Preparedness For The Climate Crisis (CPCC)
Contemporary urban life is the epitome of modernization, a paradigm of progress that takes the Holocene climate for granted. Moreover, it takes for granted the Biosphere conditions that have allowed human civilizations to flourish. Global existential risks challenge the viability of the Biosphere for most big species.
Despite increasing warnings, most cities seem to deny the impending catastrophes and remain ill-prepared to cope with major disruptions. The 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic has dramatically exhibited limited world governance, global alert systems, response capacity, and effort coordination to deal with planetary and local emergencies. CPCC addresses the warnings, inventory of capacities and competencies, lessons learned, and value practices in creating conscience and preparing for urban anthropogenic risks.
Knowledge For The Anthropocene (K4A)
Human-induced environmental impacts are bound to disrupt our way of life in deeper ways and at a wider scale than anything previously experienced by humankind. Global existential risks challenge the conditions of the Biosphere that prevailed through the Holocene, the geological epoch that saw human civilizations flourish.
However, the current knowledge base seems inadequate to help us cope with such realities. What relevant knowledge will become critical to deal with deteriorating environmental conditions? How can science, technology, innovation, and education be radically transformed for adequately responding? How can societies and governments continue to function?
