ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the importance of place and of place-making. The view that emerges is one in which ‘place’ contains contradictory messages. The tendency in academic work has been for ‘place’ to be understood largely as ‘urban place’. Local places have an unavoidably equivocal link to local government and its systems of administration. ‘Region’ is another conception of place but is more difficult to pin down both for policymakers and for economic actors. Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are sub-national regions as well as being constituent countries of the UK. Central government has had particular difficulties in defining the regions of England. In fully federal systems, the emphasis may be different, with regions as government proving powerful and integrative mechanisms for a regionalism which seeks to curtail fragmentation. P. Healey has drawn attention, from a planning perspective, to how the city-region has been linked to place-development policies.
