ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an European Union funded research project that seeks to identify a model that may be used to evaluate whether or not regional and local development policies and strategies are sustainable. It provides a summary of the sustainability assessment model identified in the research project. The chapter describes the model to a case study of an area-based initiative for local development in the Midwest of Ireland. It outlines some of the main features of a sustainable approach to local and regional development. The extensive literature review sought to establish some common ground between the proponents of sustainable development on the one hand and regional development on the other. The sustainable development literature initially placed great emphasis on environmental concerns and on equity issues, especially those related to intergenerational resource transfers. There has also been tremendous diversity in the range of concerns that have been addressed in the literature on regional development.
