The spatial concentration of knowledge. Some theoretical considerations

Abstract

Knowledge and professional skills are not ubiquitously available and not as mobile as information. Spatial disparities of knowledge and spatial proximity of power and knowledge can be traced back to early human history. Power and knowledge always tended to build coalitions. Almost all rulers had their advisers, their houses of knowledge or - in modern terms - their think tanks. Knowledge is a primary dimension of competitiveness and social evolution. Knowledge legitimates power, power tries to control knowledge. Spatial structures and processes of the creation, diffusion, and application of knowledge and skills must be analysed and explained by a geographical perspective. The paper considers why work places for highly qualified decision makers, experts and intellectuals are so highly concentrated spatially with reference to organisation and communication theory, symbol theory and conflict theory.