Paths of an evolving city: Alternatives and relevance in local policy

This paper builds on some previous results concerning (I) a view of the industrial district as a learning region, and (2) a typology of features of local development and industrial policies. The aim here is to apply these results to a 'non-district' care study, that is the understanding of the inner logic of the economy and the farming of the local economic policy in an Italian dynamic city (Florence, and its urban system). The interest of such case is two-fold. Firstly, we see how the conceptual framework developed for the analysis of industrial districts can be applied at least partially, to different types of local systems, and in particular to the important case of complex and dynamic urban systems. Secondly, the complexity itself makes easier, or not avoidable, the consideration of a trade-off in the inputs of local policy's relevance.