ABSTRACT

This book began from the premise that territories need to develop strategies for their economic development – a premise around which there is widespread agreement, rapidly evolving practice, but a lack of rigorous academic reflection. Its main contribution twofold: first, it provides a conceptual framework for the analysis (of past strategies) and for the design, implementation and evaluation of (present and future) strategies (and their corresponding policy measures); and, second, it offers case studies of seven territories in Europe and the Americas that demonstrate different experiences with territorial strategy, each of which contributes to deepening our real-world understanding of one or several dimensions of that conceptual framework.