ABSTRACT
Starting from observations in postwar Italy (cf. Bagnasco’s Third Italy, 1977) there has been a rediscovery of the importance of the territory in general and localities in particular in the organization of production. The local dimension, long overshadowed by concern with the macroeconomy, has reemerged as an object of concern. This is due in part to the rediscovery of the variety of economic forms that constitute an alternative to the mass production system that had come to dominate the economy in many countries (Sabel and Zeitlin 1985). It is also due to attempts to anticipate developments by observing a congruence between these older forms of industrial organization and the new ones based on flexible specialization (Piore and Sabel 1984). In light of the performance of the Italian districts, and as if to compensate for decades of neglect, the local area is making a comeback as a new paradigm of industrial development.
