Knowledge-based urban development stakeholder analysis (case study: Isfahan city)

Today, since cities are the focus of development and knowledge is produced and published in them, they play a fundamental role in knowledge-based development. Thus, with the evolution of the development concept, knowledge-based value, the driving force of urban development and changing the spatial structure of cities, the Knowledge City (KC), and the knowledge-based urban development (KBUD) have been proposed as an attitude for competitiveness and sustainable development of urban economics and their compatibility to the strategies of the knowledge economy through creating opportunities for the production and exchange of knowledge and innovation among citizens.Due to the fact that KBUD activities are related to the stakeholders in the field of learning and innovation, the use of the capacity building and networking tools based on the institutional framework and through the expansion of local stakeholder engagement can underlie and be the driving force of institutional changes for integrated urban development. According to the emergence of city knowledge studies and the lack of systematic development of its theoretical foundations, there has been a little report on the success or failure of KBUD policies and their challenges in the cities of developing countries. Recent studies have shown that the most important requirement for the realization of KBUD is institutional development. In order to create interaction and integrated compatibility between urban resources and stakeholders, the need for good governance and strong political leadership is a pioneer in science and technology that addresses the weakness of institutional arrangements and the inadequacy of the governing tools. the most important aspect of knowledge-based urban development is the institutional aspect, since it is the regulator of the relationship between the economic, social and environmental aspects of the city, which is performed based on political will, strategic view, strong relationships, and KBUD stakeholders' confidence. Recent empirical studies on the requirements for the realization of KBUD show that the most important requirement for the achievement and success of the knowledge city is institutional development. The results of the above-mentioned empirical studies on the feasibility and realization of KBUD show that all of these studies consider the most important challenges facing the realization of knowledge cities are governance weaknesses, inefficient institutional frameworks, low institutional capacities, poor KBUD stakeholder cooperation and low trust between them. Hence, capacity building and strengthening of trust and cooperation and relation network cohesion of the main knowledge-based urban development stakeholders are a suitable tool for paradigmatic changes towards the knowledge-based urban development. In this regard, identification and analysis of key stakeholders as an effective primary step for this important issue is inevitable.

The present research is carried out in the case study framework and 4 steps with the general functional goal and operational-descriptive-exploratory purpose and by the combined method and use of quantitative and qualitative approaches. In the first step, using a snowball sampling method, by referring to experts in the field of knowledge-based urban development of Isfahan, a preliminary list containing 83 potential stakeholders was prepared in accordance with the requirements of knowledge-based urban development and was let to the theoretical saturation of list regulation with 23 experts. In the second step, using the power-interest matrix model and completing the closed questionnaire by the experts and statistical analyses, 14 key stakeholders whose average power and interest rates were more than 3, were identified. In the third step, by completing a closed questionnaire by the experts and statistical analysis, type of power and interests of the main stakeholders of knowledge-based urban development were identified. In the fourth step, using the semi-structured interview method, the way of applying the key stakeholders’ power in knowledge-based urban development has been analyzed based on their type of interest and the use of open source coding and axial coding.

Considering the importance of implementing capacity building and networking tools by expanding the interaction of local stakeholders to create institutional changes for realizing the knowledge-based urban development of Isfahan and the results of empirical studies on the feasibility and realization of knowledge-based urban development of Isfahan, that considers the most important challenges confronting the realization of knowledge cities are the weakness of governance and inefficient institutional frameworks, low institutional capacity, poor cooperation of stakeholders in knowledge-based urban development of Isfahan, and low trust between them, thus, building capacity, strengthening trust and cooperation, and network cohesion of main stakeholders of knowledge-based urban development is an appropriate tool for a paradigm changing toward the knowledge-based urban development. In this regard, identification and analysis of key stakeholders as an effective primary step for this important issue is inevitable. Therefore, in the present study, through a systematic review of texts related to the requirements and factors of Isfahan’s knowledge-based urban development success, the concept of stakeholder and stakeholder analysis, processes and models for identifying and analyzing stakeholders and also using power-interest matrix model of key stakeholders, the knowledge-based urban development of Isfahan was identified and analyzed and the extent and type of power and interest and the way of applying their power according to their type of interest were evaluated and analyzed.

 The results of the research show that without the broad participation and engagement of all key stakeholders, it is very difficult to achieve knowledge-based urban development of Isfahan. Thus, the framework developed for the analysis of key stakeholders in the knowledge-based development of Isfahan provides a good understanding about the types of power and how to apply it based on the types of interests that each of the key stakeholders has on and the basis of which, through capacity building and networking it is possible to policy on how to promote participation and interaction between them in the process of achieving the knowledge-based urban development in Isfahan.