What do Learning Cities add? Rethinking impact, evaluation, and governance

Despite the global diffusion of learning cities and the expansion of evaluation frameworks, uncertainty persists regarding what learning cities add beyond existing institutional activities and how such value can be meaningfully assessed. This paper argues that these challenges are not primarily methodological but conceptual and political. Drawing on the historical evolution of learning cities and learning regions, it shows how early economically driven framings – particularly those associated with OECD learning region discourse – have shaped contemporary evaluation logics. Through a critical examination of indicator-based and benchmarking approaches, including those linked to the Pascal Observatory and the Unesco Global Network of Learning Cities, the paper argues that learning cities should be understood as governance ecosystems whose distinctive contribution lies in coordination, alignment, and collective learning. It concludes by advocating learning-oriented, context-sensitive evaluation conceived as a governance practice rather than a technical measurement exercise.