ABSTRACT
Cities, towns and regions are constantly re-orientating themselves to promote their growth and prosperity in the rapidly changing world. Regional development agencies (RDAs) and local development agencies have been set up, for example, to address crises in the regional or local economy and/or to promote territorial competitiveness. There is a relatively rich literature about development agencies (see e.g. Halkier and Danson 1997; Danson et al. 2005). The future role of RDAs is currently under intensive discussion and analysis, especially in countries such as the UK due to recently announced plans to terminate the present RDA structure in England (Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 2010). There is a growing interest in creating and developing new activities and studying organizational forms to replace the traditional RDA working model in England and many other European countries.
