Innovation Districts as Turbines of Smart Strategy Policies in US and EU. Boston and Barcelona Experience

Abstract

Across US the most intriguing interpretation of ‘Smart Strategies’ and the emerging model that embodies the idea of recreating an innovative urban ecosystem is well represented by the concept of ‘Innovation District’, a ‘geographic area where leading-edge anchor institutions and companies cluster and connect with start-ups, business incubators, and accelerators’. The city of Boston represents a paradigmatic case of flexible integration between urban economic redevelopment initiatives, changeable partnership architecture and exploitation of the potential of social innovation-related regeneration. The inspiration model of the ‘Innovation District’ of South Boston Seaport is referred to the 22@ Barcelona project, an initiative conceived in 2000 for regenerating an abandoned industrial site - ‘El Poblenou’- with new thriving mixed use urban activities. This can be considered controversial and almost paradoxical given the fact that the Europe 2020 official Agenda is deeply committed in applying the Smart Specialisation Strategy for creating virtuous ecosystem in European urban regions following the US policy models and innovation clusters. The major challenge for an effective Smart Strategy style interpretation is related to the potential ‘territorialisation’ of urban redevelopment visions. The ‘consciousness of places’ with their local cultures can become a key-driver for embedded innovation. The ‘place-based’ approach allows to build virtuous regeneration projects including the potential of territorial ‘dna’ related to the local communities for identifying, recovering and increasing the values of local cultural specificities.