From the Editor

Abstract

In this open issue of the Journal of Urban Technology, we have a diverse collection of articles dealing with both familiar (technology transfer, online neighborhood networks) and unfamiliar (using blockchain technology to protect the Intellectual Property rights of street artists) issues. In the first of these articles, “Uncertainty in Market-Mediated Technology Transfer and Geographical Diffusion: Evidence from Chinese Technology Flow,” Dongho Han and Ilwon Seo attempt to tackle market-mediated technology transfer within and across geographies drawing upon patent licensing records in China. The data set they use allows them to capture the importance of geography in licensing relationships—an important new insight. Their discussion leads them into teasing out the implications for public actors within innovations systems (such as those outlined in the Triple Helix model); investigating the policy implications of purchasers/providers preferring differing spatial scales; and displaying how geographic proximity is revealed as a means of risk aversion. The authors see three advantages of using patent licensing data in a Chinese context to track region-to-region technology flows. First, patent licensing data “indicate the flow of technology with economic value geared toward innovative outcomes.” Second, the licensing data set portrays “region-to-region technology flows.” And third, a licensing contract “reflects an organization’s strategic decisions.” The analysis of these data allowed the authors to conclude that “despite the presence of market mechanisms, geographical proximity still plays an important role in the diffusion of knowledge, similar to that of pure knowledge spillover.” However, they noted that in the regions of China that they studied, Han and Seo found that “geographical agglomeration is an essential, but not a sufficient condition” to trigger economic growth. While not studied as much as seems warranted, noise pollution and how to ameliorate it are important issues in city planning. In their article, “Stakeholders Engagement in Noise Action Planning Mediated by OGITO: An Open Geo-Spatial Interactive TOol,” Rosa Aguilar, Johannes Flacke, Daniel Simon, and Karin Pfeffer describe the development of a digital tool that facilitates stakeholder engagement and public discourse in the context of noise action planning. The focus of the article is on how maptables can be used in collaborative spatial planning. The researchers used collaboration to develop a tool that was able to allow stakeholders to identify specific locations and populations that were exposed to higher levels of noise with the goal of planning abatement strategies. Because of the pandemic, the stakeholders participated sometimes remotely in these sessions and sometimes in person. The success of the remote sessions will be used in the future to involve members of the affected communities who can only participate remotely. The goal of the study written by Jonas De Meulenaere, Cédric Courtois, Michel Walrave, Lieven J.R. Pauwels, Wim Hardyns, and Koen Ponnet has a clearly defined goal: to determine the prevalence of the use of online neighborhood networks (ONNs) and explore which sociodemographic, socioeconomic status, social integration, and media use determinants predict ONN membership and use in the city of Ghent, Belgium. Their article, “Exploring the