In this paper, we review the concept of science parks and their culmination as knowledge-based urban developments (KBUDs). Next, we describe the upgrading of second-generation science parks in urban fringes to knowledge territories based on the quintuple helix innovation model. This research aims to study planning and design tools that can be used to foster serendipity, vitality and high-quality living environments in otherwise sterile landscapes from a human point of view, as is generally the case in second-generation science parks. In this context, we discuss how city information modelling (CIM) capabilities can be extended with three placemaking aspects that are important to this type of development: social negotiation, urban vitality and legibility. Finally, we present the International Hub for Sustainable Development (HIDS), which is currently being planned in Campinas, Brazil, and some examples of the use of CIM in this project. We conclude that CIM can be used to increase public engagement in participatory processes by facilitating communication between stakeholders. In addition, it improves data collection in these processes and supports decision‑making.

There has been a recent interest in the field of digital heritage to advance historic building information modeling (HBIM) towards digital twins (DT). This paper investigates the potential and limitations of HBIM use as DTs through a systematic mapping of literature (SML). The conclusions were applied in an incremental and low-code workflow to model historic buildings aiming at achieving a trade-off between a high degree of parametrization and a high degree of geometric accuracy. The proposed workflow is illustrated through a parametric script developed with visual programming in Grasshopper for Rhino 3D to model historic columns from profiles. VisualARQ for Rhino 3D is used to convert the script into a BIM object that uses profiles, automatically extracted from a point cloud acquired with 3D laser scanning, as an initial shape. This results in a simpler workflow to achieve more accurate HBIM models that could be leveraged in DT simulations.

In recent decades, governments have invested in strategic territories focused on knowledge production and application, which are strategic for socioeconomic development, particularly in urban areas. However, conceptual and terminological diversity hinders aspects such as the systematization of the literature, the advance of theoretical conceptualizations, and the formulation of coherent policies, especially in the context of socioenvironmental challenges. In this study, with the aim of consolidating this literature, we have conducted a systematic review with bibliometric and content analysis, examining publications on eight denominations associated with these territories. The literature reveals the existence of an established field; nonetheless, themes and denominations are still dispersed in the corpus. Among 400 authors, 339 published a single article, and only 13 authors have three or more studies in the sample. We identified a core of 11 journals that concentrate 73 of the 214 analyzed texts. We propose the term “knowledge territories” as an umbrella concept. A total of 114 case studies were identified. Governance is the most recurrent dimension (53% of the texts). Topics such as climate change, food production and diffuse effects of territorial occupation are rarely explored, as are the cases analyzed in the context of semi-peripheral and peripheral countries, indicating gaps and opportunities for future research.

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.