Learning and the ' Ba ' in the Development Network of an Urban Region

Abstract

In order for an urban region to learn and develop, it is necessary for its development network to learn. In this article, Ikujiro Nonaka's learning model, which emphasizes the significance of tacit and explicit knowledge interacting in a spiral process and thus enabling creation of new knowledge, is applied to learning in a development network. Nonaka and his colleagues have also conceptualized specific places ( ba ) to correspond to every phase of knowledge conversion. Favourable conditions or places can also be developed for knowledge conversion in a development network: this article presents some potential ba for the development network including practical examples from Tampere Urban Region (located in Finland).