Handbook of Local and Regional Development

"This indispensible Handbook is one-stop shopping for any course on regional or urban development. Those seeking to understand how regions can develop or transform their economies in an increasingly competitive global environment must read the groundbreaking analyses assembled by Pike, Rodriguez, and Tomaney." Joan Fitzgerald, Professor of Urban Policy and Directo, Law, Policy and Society Program, Northeastern University, Boston, USA.

"A must read for all those wanting seriously to understand spatial patterns in development and to engage in the difficult art of modern local and regional development policy. Conceptual foundations, governance and the tools of policy delivery are revealed by cleverly bringing together theoretical advances in different fields."

Fabrizio Barca, Director General, Ministry of Finance and Economy, Italy.

"A comprehensive review of the theory and practice of local and regional development, emphasizing the capabilities, learning and governance, with a robustly comparative and international perspective, edited by major scholars in the field."

Michael Storper, Professor of Economic Geography, London School of Economics; Professor of Economic Sociology, Sciences Po, Paris and Professor of Urban Planning, UCLA, USA.

"This is a path-breaking collection of cutting-edge thinking on local and regional development written by a large number of influential scholars whose collective wisdom has clearly defined this important field of enquiry. The work sets a new benchmark for understanding scholarship and practice."

Henry Yeung, Professor of Economic Geography, National University of Singapore, Singapore.

The Handbook of Local and Regional Development provides a comprehensive statement and reference point for local and regional development. The scope of this Handbook's coverage and contributions engages with and reflects upon the politics and policy of how we think about and practise local and regional development, encouraging dialogue across the disciplinary barriers between notions of `Local and Regional Development' in the Global North and `Development Studies' in the Global South.

This Handbook is organized into seven inter-related sections, with an introductory chapter setting out the rationale, aims and structure of the Handbook. Section I situates local and regional development in its global context. Section II establishes the key issues in understanding the principles and values that help us define what is meant by local and regional development. Section III critically reviews the current diversity and variety of conceptual and theoretical approaches to local and regional development. Section IV address questions of government and governance. Section V connects critically with the array of contemporary approaches to local and regional development policy. Section VI is an explicitly global review of perspectives on local and regional development from Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin and North America. Section VII provides reflection and discussion of the futures for local and regional development in an international and multidisciplinary context.

With over 40 contributions from leading international scholars in the field, this Handbook provides critical reviews and appraisals of current state-of-the-art conceptual and theoretical approaches and future developments in local and regional development.