ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the information needs of policy oriented regional economic research. The main reason why so much information is wanted lies in the necessity to include external effects and their consequences for the individual decision units. The long-term view of the interaction of economic, social and spatial structures implies the projection of expected changes in the sectoral economic structureof the development of household demand for space and, last but not leastof the willingness of people to migrate and commute. Different kinds of approaches have been used by architects and planners, but their models for physical planning have hardly been noticed by economists, much less been analysed in terms of economic criteria. An alternative to choosing a new location for a plant is the adaptation of existing plants at old locations to the changes in the 'economic environment' of the firm, in the locations of other economic activities and their interrelationships, and in other relevant data.
