Beyond proximities: The socio-spatial dynamics of knowledge creation

Knowledge creation is recognized as interaction between individuals in a social context, but geography-of-knowledge-creation research inadequately connects social context to physical place. The proximities approach reduces physical place to near-far dichotomies and territorial innovation models conflate social context and physical place. This paper introduces the concept of ‘conversations’ as social spaces of knowledge creation and develops typologies of how conversations are connected to physical places, based on the effort required to bridge distance and on the attractiveness of places for knowledge creation. Addressing the socio-spatial dynamics of knowledge creation, the paper explains how conversations may be anchored in multiple locations.