ABSTRACT
New Regionalism is an attempt to coordinate different forms of region-building strategies that include supranational, state-centered and locally oriented elements. These development concepts have been derived from research on institution-building and regional governance processes and are largely based on Germany's post-reunification experience. The advent of institutionalism has come at the expense of structuralism and purely actor-centered approaches. Strategic guidance has been identified by Amin and Hausner as a mixture of networks between institutional actors and political leadership that provides guidance, arbitrage and support. Regional capacity-building takes place within the institutional constraints and opportunities that are specific to individual countries. Institution-building and regional governance offer a conceptual basis for strategic proposals that favor policies of regionalization aiming at sustainable and innovative development. In Germany, regional actor systems evolve mainly in those spaces that can be characterized as metropolitan regions: highly centralized urban areas that are closely connected with their periphery.
