ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a survey of the recent rise, evolution and the defining characteristics of entrepreneurial cities, viewed as complex entities, which both direct and adapt to structural change. It provides a brief review of the factors underlying the resurgence of cities as sites of innovation-led growth in an era of globalization and an increasingly knowledge-intensive economy. A variety of concepts drawn from several disciplines have surfaced to characterize the acquisition and maintenance of new economic, political and social capacities by these cities in order to be dynamically competitive in the global economy. These concepts, often used interchangeably, include: agglomerations/growth clusters, innovation milieu, entrepreneurial cities and creative cities. Three models of such innovation-led urban/regional development, namely, the new economic geography', new growth theory, and a spatial-relational interaction model of innovation-led agglomeration are briefly presented. The chapter describes the new economic and political capacities needed in the entrepreneurial clusters and the evolving context of urban governance.
