This book - previously published as a special issue of the journal "Urban Studies" - draws upon a range of research from Western Europe and North America to critically assess the contribution of clusters to urban and regional development.

Andy Cumbers is a Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Glasgow. Danny MacKinnon is a Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Aberdeen.

1. Introduction: Clusters in urban and regional development 2. Clusters, Dispersion and the Spaces In Between: For an economic geography of the banal 3. The Cluster as Market Organization 4. Where is the Value-Added in the Cluster Approach? Hermeneutic theorising, economic geography and clusters as a multi-perspectival approach 5. Working through Knowledge Pools: Labour market dynamics, the transference of knowledge and ideas and industrial clusters 6. Entrepreneurial Activity and the Dynamics of Technology-Based Cluster Development: The case of Ottawa 7. Clusters from the Inside and Out: Lessons from the Canadian study of cluster development 8. Innovation and Clustering in the Globalized International Economy 9. Life Sciences Clusters and Regional Science Policy 10. Embryonic Knowledge Based Clusters and Cities: The case of biotechnology in Scotland 11. Knowledge-Based Clusters and Urban Location: The clustering of software consultancy in Oslo 12. Like a Phoenix from the Ashes? The renewal of clusters in old industrial areas