When Knowledge Economy Plans the City: Improving Future or Increasing Inequalities?

Abstract

This paper examines how knowledge economy–driven policies reshape urban space, questioning whether they contribute to sustainable futures or exacerbate inequalities. Metropolitan areas increasingly pursue excellence and competitiveness through spatial policies that valorise land, often encouraging gentrification and reinforcing social divisions. Local authorities, in their efforts to balance ecological and social concerns, turn to architecture and urban design as tools of cohesion, while benchmarking and city branding discourses promote misleading notions such as “revitalisation” and “renewal.” Drawing on cases from Lille (France) and Pune (India), the study highlights how knowledge economy projects interact with socio-spatial organisation, producing uneven outcomes in terms of spatial justice and environmental equity. The findings stress the contradictions of cluster policies and underline the need to critically address gentrification, social disparity, and ecological imbalance in planning processes.