STATE CAPACITIES AND INNOVATIONS IN URBAN AND METROPOLITAN TRANSFORMATIONS: THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL APPROACHES
Contemporary urban and metropolitan transformations pose growing challenges for governments and communities in terms of sustainability, inclusion, digitalization and the provision of public services. Within this context, state capacities have become a central element for understanding how public institutions drive, coordinate and sustain innovation processes aimed at addressing complex urban problems. This symposium proposes a space for interdisciplinary dialogue to analyze the relationships between state capacities, innovation and urban transformation from theoretical and empirical perspectives. It seeks to bring together research examining processes of urban change through approaches drawn from innovation studies, urban governance, public administration and metropolitan studies.
In particular, we invite reflection from sociotechnical approaches, which conceive transformations as the result of interaction among technologies, institutions, actors and social practices. Along these lines, the contributions of Geels and Schot (2007), especially through the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP), offer analytical tools for understanding transitions toward more sustainable urban systems, considering the interaction between innovation niches, sociotechnical regimes and environmental dynamics. The symposium also incorporates contributions from the economics of innovation applied to urban studies, which highlight the role of regional and urban innovation systems, knowledge networks, institutional capacities and public policies in generating and diffusing innovations. From this perspective, cities and metropolitan areas are understood as spaces where processes of collective learning, institutional experimentation and coordination among governments, universities, businesses and social organizations converge. We welcome theoretical and methodological approaches, as well as case studies analyzing experiences in public innovation, metropolitan governance, digital transformation, ecological transition, public transport and mobility, housing, infrastructure, public service management and other initiatives aimed at strengthening state capacities to promote sustainable, inclusive and evidence-based urban transformations.
