Cities are undergoing a profound transformation in which the pursuit of greater economic competitiveness must be reconciled with an improved quality of life and sustainability.

This book sets out to analyze and interpret the industrial dynamics of medium-size cities, with attention to their differing ability to build knowledge intensive economies. Starting from a theoretical reflection on the factors driving companies’ recent spatial strategies, and the reasons why innovation processes are so local in character, the work is organized into two complementary parts.

The first offers an overview of such cities in Spain, using data drawn from a comprehensive database organized at municipal level. In the second, seven cities are selected for their size, industrial profile and recent dynamics with a view to identifying local factors in their performance and the relative effectiveness of municipal policies. To build this picture, the authors conducted numerous interviews with businesses, public institutions and representatives of local society. The underlying data are available for consultation on the BBVA Foundation website.