The article begins with a critical review of the multiplication of concepts today regarding the interrelationships between knowledge and urban development. An overview is given of complementary perspectives, such as knowledge-based cities, learning cities, intelligent cities and creative cities, as the foundation for the proposal that there are four main channels whereby cities join the knowledge society: by innovation systems, by economic structure, by human capital and by networking. On this basis Spanish cities are subjected to a comparative analysis of their knowledge indicators in each of these four components. From the exploratory analysis it is concluded that a sizeable share of Spanish cities are not involved in the process of joining the knowledge society. The rest of the cities are observed to follow one of two contrasting trajectories: cities in metropolitan sectors that are highly prized socially and environmentally have strengthened the presence of knowledge-intensive services and highly qualified human resources, while medium-sized and small cities have specialized in industries of an average or low technological intensity but have made a considerable innovative effort. The text concludes with a reflection on the challenge for local stakeholders to use knowledge to improve the multiple dimensions of urban development.
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