ABSTRACT
More than a decade after the book on Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) edited by Halkier, Danson and Damborg (Halkier et al. 1998), and the companion collection edited by Danson, Halkier and Cameron (Danson et al. 2000), the collection of essays included in this volume presents the reader with a mixed picture. On the one hand, we notice an apparent continuity, marked by the substantial diffusion, articulation and consolidation of the phenomenon. RDA presence is pervasive, much beyond what the traditional aim of reducing territorial disparities would imply and require. RDAs take responsibility for transformative agendas within regions adding to (or substituting for) agendas based on disparities between regions (Hall in chapter 10, this volume).
