ABSTRACT
Regional policy has not always been a purely economic question, as conceived by central or regional governments. Political, social, and environmental considerations have usually played their parts. Regional policy, per definition, is directed at problems related to spatially irregular development, especially in developing regions. The aforementioned ‘regional problem’ derives from geographical irregularity, either in the distribution or in the production conditions, from a regional consciousness of regionally irregular processes of change, or a broader awareness on the part of the government of the potential political effects of change upon particular regions. Regional planning, regional policy, urban systems, and urban maturation models form the cornerstone of this chapter, measured against past and existing policy initiatives in the African Union and the SADC.
