Knowledge hubs: Poles of physical accessibility and non-physical connectivity

This chapter demonstrates the need for spatial sciences to focus more on the digital revolution. The digital economy represents the pervasive use of IT in all aspects of the economy, including internal operations of organizations transactions between organizations; and transactions between individuals, acting both as consumers and citizens, and organizations. The main characteristic of the digital economy is the pervasive character of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in all sectors of the economy. From an urban perspective, both the digital revolution and the underlying new techno-economic paradigm are associated with creating drastic social changes. The physical world of urban (infra) structure and transport, and the virtual world of urban communications and interactions, are often regarded as two disjointed domains. The plethora of new digital data which is a direct impact of the digital revolution - calls towards an e-regional science, which will address digital phenomena from a spatial perspective and utilize digital data to approach traditional geographical questions.