In the US and Europe many clusters initiatives have recently been launched. National and regional governments have been defining and implementing clusters policies and programmes with the aim to identifying, launching and finally consolidating international competitive clusters in their...

The boom of clusters is leading to an 'explosion' of initiatives which in many cases lack an integrated approach. There are some methodologies which although strong technically, are expensive and often impossible to implement due to the shortage of basic information. This study proposes a...

This paper provides a nuance picture of the mechanisms through which temporary and permanent spatial co-location simultaneously sustain firm's innovation. Using a large sample of footwear clustered firms, results suggest that, on the one hand, intra-cluster Vertical relationships contribute to...

This article aims to follow the application of fuzzy approach in the analysis of urban complex problems; classifying urban problems according to different criteria. It proposes a methodology to combine different dimensions of quality of life, with the economic (income, employment), social...

Sustainable energy strategies require decision-makers in government, industry, academia and civil society alike to make choices among tradeoffs. Within the transport sector alone, ethanol has been shown to be the dominant solution among viable, low carbon options to date, yet questions remain...

This paper aims at develop an evaluation of the functional polycentrism of Portuguese municipalities. For that purpose, we develop a critical assessment of the concept of polycentrism and functional polycentrism whose assumptions guide most of the policies of regional planning, and present the...