Despite the increasing relevance of knowledge-based activities in the global economy, their spatial distribution at the intrametropolitan scale has rarely been studied. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the intrametropolitan spatial localisation of knowledge-based activities by assessing some of its main causal mechanisms, paying special attention to agglomeration economies and borrowed size (both questioned in the era of Information and Communications Technologies because of the theorised ‘death of distance’), the controversial role of industrial diversity and specialisation (traditionally considered exclusive processes) and path dependence. The empirical application refers to the case of the Madrid urban region for the period between 2012 and 2017. This study area proves particularly appropriate for two main reasons. First, the area is a main urban region in the European and global urban systems. Second, the area is a good example of a multicore urban region with a traditionally strong metropolis. The results show that the knowledge economy remains strongly dependent on the size of the city itself (agglomeration economies) and of the surrounding areas (borrowed size), that the specialisation and diversity processes are complementary and appear at different scales and that in the specialisation of certain areas in some knowledge economy activities, the city’s trajectory (path dependence) plays an important role. The results of the present study have various practical implications for policymakers when considering not only strategies (and investments) to coordinate land availability, worker training, connections between research centres and companies and amenities but also strategies to coordinate with the surrounding municipalities (e.g. in terms of mobility or joint public and private projects).

尽管以知识为基础的活动在全球经济中的重要性越来越高，但在都市圈范围内其活动空间分布却鲜有研究。本文的目的是通过评估知识活动的一些主要因果机制，特别是集聚经济和借贷规模（在信息和通信技术时代都受到质疑，这引起了人们的关注）来阐明知识活动在都市圈内的空间定位。理论上的“距离之死”），工业多样性和专业化（传统上被认为是排他性过程）和路径依赖的争议性作用。实证应用是针对马德里市区在2012年至2017年期间的情况。该研究区域被证明特别合适，其主要原因有两个。第一的，该地区是欧洲和全球城市体系中的主要城市地区。其次，该地区是拥有传统大都市的多核城市地区的典范。结果表明，知识经济仍然强烈依赖于城市本身（集聚经济体）和周边地区（借款规模）的规模，专业化和多样性过程是相辅相成的，并呈现出不同的规模，而知识经济的专业化则呈现出不同的程度。在某些知识经济活动的某些区域，城市的轨迹（路径依赖）起着重要作用。本研究结果不仅考虑协调土地供应，工人培训，