ABSTRACT
Regions have long been used to describe and understand significant facts and differences about the world, its climate, physical characteristics, natural resources, and demographic, social, and economic conditions. The regional geographers were at the forefront of this type of research. The United States with its varied climatic, resource, and physical conditions has been a fertile field for regional research: Howard Baker's studies of agricultural regions; Neven M. Fenneman's work on physiographic regions; and Marburg's soil classifications, are but a few of the many examples of early regional geographic research in the United States. The Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR) in its 1972 report Multistate Regionalism took the position that because of the brief experience in regional planning and development operations a broad assessment of the effectiveness of such agencies could not be made. This chapter deals with TVA's activities as a regional development agency over the seventy years.
