ABSTRACT
Regional development theory is useful in guiding the analyses and explanation of observed socio-economic and spatial changes. The intent is neither to explicate nor test theory but to point out and emphasize its implications for regional planning policy and strategy. While helping to explain the processes of regional change and the policy-strategy refinement, theory is useful in accounting for the emergence and evolution of disparities in regional development. Regional development theories exist in more established forms, quasi- or just hypothetical formulations. The principal concern here should be with a policy and strategy of controlled investment, with initial selective attention to the 'urban-industrial pockets'. The former associates a rise in per capita income with fall in primary activities, a rise in manufacturing and consequent regional growth. In response to the failures and ineffectiveness of the urban-industrial, neo-classical and Keynesian constructs, the radical formulations emphasize neo-populist socio-endogenous factors.
