Taking recent advances on the connection of social dynamics and physical place in the geographies of knowledge creation debate as a starting point, the paper scrutinises bank branches as locations where social dynamics and physical place coincide. It presents original data gained inter alia by means of participatory observation on the credit-decision processes of both a private big bank operating nationwide and a regional savings bank in Germany. Our results first highlight the general role of physical characteristics of bank branches – most notably the arrangement in the workplace and the resulting degrees of accessibility and confidentiality – in processes of knowledge exchange and creation. In addition, our insights reveal that both bank executives and bank customers are well aware of this connection between physical characteristics and social dynamics, and thus strategically design their branches and select certain sites for negotiations.

中文翻译：

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作为知识创造场所的银行分行：微观地理尺度的概念考虑和实证结果

以知识创造地理学辩论中社会动态与物理场所联系的最新进展为出发点，本文将银行分行视为社会动态与物理场所重合的场所。它提供了原始数据，特别是通过对一家在全国运营的私人大银行和一家德国地区储蓄银行的信贷决策过程进行参与式观察而获得的数据。我们的结果首先强调了银行分行的物理特征——最显着的是工作场所的安排以及由此产生的可访问性和保密性——在知识交流和创造过程中的一般作用。此外，