Analysis of knowledge territories based on the triple bottom line

Since the last century, various territories dedicated to knowledge production have emerged, such as university campuses, Science and Technology Parks, and more recently, innovation districts. Over the past decades, with the growth of the knowledge-based services sector, they have evolved in parallel with different innovation models, incorporating greater social and environmental concerns based on the Quintuple helix model. This article investigates the strategies and approaches adopted in the transition of knowledge territories to what some authors are calling the fourth generation, using the urban development initiative Paris-Saclay and the university campus distrotec, located respectively in France and Mexico, as case studies. The first example demonstrates a strategy of creating an urban campus in an area where existing institutions did not interact, resulting in a more sustainable space capable of promoting social interaction. The second example presents an effort to integrate a closed university campus with the existing surroundings, aiming to incorporate society, the environment, and businesses into a closed academic environment. The examples are situated in two different contexts, the first in a developed country and the second in a peripheral one. For this analysis, the concepts of Triple Bottom Line and Knowledge-Based Urban Development were adopted. This study contributes to its field by developing a model that can be applied to other knowledge territories, facilitating the identification of their development phase and the quality of their built environments.