Within the contemporary world of 'the knowledge economy', understanding the
spatial organisation of knowledge production has become a key issue. Drawi
ng on recent emphases in economic geography on the cultural construction an
d social embeddedness of economic success, this paper outlines an attempt t
o understand one form of spatial organisation of knowledge - the agglomerat
ion or cluster - using the analytical concept of 'the knowledge community'.
Using the example of Motor Sport Valley, the paper provides an empirical a
nd methodological example of how one might place a knowledge community. The
British motor sport industry dominates its world of production with a regi
onal agglomeration, Motor Sport Valley, centred on Oxfordshire and stretchi
ng into East Anglia and down into Surrey. The paper provides empirical demo
nstration of the processes of knowledge generation and dissemination consti
tuting the space (and knowledge community) of Motor Sport Valley. The paper
recognises also the need to contextualise the 'microfoundations' of knowle
dge communities within a greater political economic system. (C) 2000 Publis
hed by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.