ABSTRACT
Thinking on area development changed in the sense that a new vision, the 'identity strategy', evolved in addition to traditional development ideas. The basic idea was that the qualities of rural areas and then* identities should be taken as the
starting point, rather than the situation in the national agglomerations. Area development would be realized by strengthening and profiling those qualities and identities, instead of copying developments in the national agglomerations (European Conference on Rural Development, 1996; Provincie Groningen, 2000; Raad voor het Landelijk Gebied, 1999a; 1999b). The call for greater recognition of local characteristics and identity in area development was not only related to the 'peripheral' areas (that is, areas outside the urban agglomerations) but also rural areas within the Randstad conurbation under pressure from spatial demands. These areas were pictured as 'green' and undeveloped areas. Cities, too, experience a growing need to emphasize their identity in the face of overwhelming 'McDonaldization' and the accompanying trend towards uniformity. As this example illustrates, the increasing emphasis on regional identity can be partly explained as a reaction to the process of globalization (Giddens, 1998; Harvey, 1989). Globalization, which can be defined as the interrelationships between different places that evolve through common processes of economic, political, cultural and environmental change, has led to increased mobility of people, goods and information. Furthermore, we increasingly feel that we live in a progressively more unstable and uncertain world. This feeling of insecurity is being fed by the increasing amount of information about other, strange places and people and societies that becomes available in the globalization process. This perception in itself has led to a growing desire for stable, certain places with a coherent identity (Massey, 1995). People are searching for a point of reference in their own environment, which regional, local or place identity can provide (Van der Borgt et al., 1996; Massey, 1995).
