ABSTRACT
The Local Government Commission – a local government association in the United States – has a particular view of the kind of local and regional development it deems appropriate and valuable. Such perspectives may differ from place to place and vary over time. How specific interpretations are determined and how they differ are central to understanding and questioning the nature of local and regional development. To understand what we are dealing with when thinking, writing and doing local and regional development we need to start with first principles. Our basic understandings of what local and regional development is, what it is for and, in a normative sense, what it should be about must be questioned. We can begin by asking the fundamental questions of what kind of local and regional development and for whom? Starting here encourages us to take a critical approach and to consider closely what we are learning and thinking about local and regional development. These basic concerns are addressed in the four sections of this chapter. First, questions of definition are examined to understand what is meant by local and regional development, to establish its historical context and to understand the importance of the geographical concepts of space, territory, place and scale. Second, the nature, character and forms of local and regional development are explored to understand its different varieties and principles and values in different places and time periods. Third, the objects, subjects and social welfare dimensions are addressed to understand the often socially uneven and geographically differentiated distribution of who and where benefits and loses from particular forms of local and regional development. Last, a summary and conclusions are provided. Chapter 3 builds upon the starting points articulated in this chapter and discusses their use in the theories that seek to understand and explain local and regional development.
