Press

Urban thinker Julie Wagner describes how so-called innovation districts in cities around the world evolve or are planned, and how their reliance on the physical and the local — in even the most high tech of industries — serves to foster creativity and collaboration.

In the race to create innovation districts in low-income urban areas, city leaders play a key role.

Following on from the first Cityscapes conversation earlier in the month, Tim Williams from the Committee for Sydney speaks to Julie Wagner, Non-Resident Senior Fellow and Co-Director of the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Initiative on Innovation and Placemaking at the Brookings Institution.

Julie Wagner gives a keynote speech at the Committee for Sydney.

For the past 50 years, many cities across the globe have described their dream of creating the next "Silicon Valley". Yet no-one has succeeded. That’s because the valley is not just a collection of buildings, companies and institutions.

The article explores urban innovation districts—dense city hubs where institutions, companies, and startups cluster to drive economic growth and collaboration.