La competencia entre ciudades constituye uno de los factores impulsores de procesos de renovación urbana y los rankings han devenido instrumentos de medida de la calidad de las ciudades. Nos detendremos en el caso de un antiguo barrio industrial hoy en vías de transformación en distrito "creativo" por medio de una intervención urbanística de gran escala. Su análisis nos descubre tres claves críticas. En primer lugar, nos obliga a plantearnos la definición de innovación urbana y cómo se integran el pasado, la identidad y la memoria en la construcción del futuro. Nos lleva a comprender que la innovación y el conocimiento no se "dan" casualmente, sino que son el fruto de una larga y compleja red en la que participan saberes, espacios, actores e instituciones diversas en naturaleza, escala y magnitud. Por último nos obliga a reflexionar sobre el valor que se le otorga a lo local en los procesos de renovación urbana. Competition among cities constitutes one of the main factors ofurban renewal, and rankings have become instruments to indícate cities quality. Studying the transformation of an old industrial quarter into a "creative district" by the means ofa large scale urban project we highlight three main conclusions. First, itasks us to reconsider the notion ofurban innovation and hoto past, identity and memory should intégrate the future development. Second, it shows that innovation and knowledge doesn't yield per chance, but are the result ofa large and complex grid of diverse knowledges, spaces, agents and institutions. Finally itforces us to reflect about the valué attributed to the "local" in urban renewalprocesses. Competition among cities constitutes one of the main factors ofurban renewal, and rankings have become instruments to indícate cities quality. Studying the transformation of an old industrial quarter into a "creative district" by the means ofa large scale urban project we highlight three main conclusions. First, itasks us to reconsider the notion ofurban innovation and hoto past, identity and memory should intégrate the future development. Second, it shows that innovation and knowledge doesn't yield per chance, but are the result ofa large and complex grid of diverse knowledges, spaces, agents and institutions. Finally itforces us to reflect about the valué attributed to the "local" in urban renewalprocesses.