This book deals with the background to the learning cities/regions movement and the tools that can be used in cities, towns and regions to create a culture of learning. Following the line that powerful modern cities and regions are the new city-states of the 21st century, as Athens and Venice were in the past, it suggests a new outward-looking role for cities and regions in helping to solve some of the more intransigent problems that face us today - and explains why this is crucial. (2006)