Local and Regional Development

Actors and institutions in localities and regions across the world are seeking prosperity and well-being amidst tumultuous and disruptive shifts and transitions generated by: an increasingly globalised, knowledge-intensive capitalism; global financial instability, volatility and crisis; concerns about economic, social and ecological sustainability, climate change and resource shortages; new multi-actor and multi-level systems of government and governance and a re-ordering of the international political economy; state austerity and retrenchment; and, new and reformed approaches to intervention, policy and institutions for local and regional development.

Local and Regional Development provides an accessible, critical and integrated examination of local and regional development theory, institutions and policy in this changing context. Amidst its rising importance, the book addresses the fundamental issues of ?what kind of local and regional development and for whom??, its purposes, principles and values, frameworks of understanding, approaches and interventions, and integrated approaches to local and regional development throughout the world. The approach provides a theoretically informed, critical analysis of contemporary local and regional development in an international and multi-disciplinary context, grounded in concrete empirical analysis from experiences in the global North and South. It concludes by identifying what might constitute holistic, inclusive, progressive and sustainable local and regional development, and reflecting upon its limits and political renewal.

"This is one of the best guides to the vast, complex and compelling field of local and regional development. The second edition is thoroughly revised and enhanced with new material on cities, politics and inequality in the global North and South. Written in a highly accessible style, this ambitious research-led textbook is a vital accessory for researchers, teachers and students of local and regional development."?

Professor Ivan Turok, Executive Director at the HSRC, South Africa, and Editor-in-Chief of Regional Studies

"Local and Regional Development is one of the most comprehensive guides to advance the understanding of regional and local development. This second edition engages the reader with a critical assessment of regional development theory, policy and institutions, and illustrates local and regional development in practice through international case studies. Highly recommended reading for students, scholars and policymakers."

Monica Brezzi, Head of the Regional Analysis and Statistics Unit, OECD Directorate for Public Governance and Territorial Development

"Local and Regional Development is an accessible, up-to-date and authoritative textbook on understanding the complex and ever-evolving nature of local and regional development in the context of globalization. The second edition is enhanced by more directly addressing questions of power, politics and inequality, and by adding a wholly new chapter on rationales for intervention, strategy and policy development. Providing not only in-depth conceptual and theoretical discussions about local and regional development but also many case studies in various parts of the Global North and South, it is an essential companion for students, scholars and policy-makers all over the world."

Professor Weidong Liu, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

"The authors deliver on their promise to provide a conceptually, theoretically and empirically grounded approach to local and regional development in a globalized world. This is the only book I know that integrates power, politics and inequality into the analysis as well. That it also provides an international perspective is important in defining its suitability as a highly readable foundation text in urban and regional development and related courses."?

Professor Joan Fitzgerald, School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, Northeastern University, Boston, USA