Sustainable economic development and the local economy

Since the 1992 Rio Summit, pressure has been increasingly applied both globally and nationally for development to be sustainably accountable. As a result, current EU directives and international agreements are playing an increasing role in economic and social areas especially with reference to sustainable development. This new focus has been given substance in the UK through recent regional policy initiatives which aim to strengthen the essential foundations for economic growth ñ innovation, skills and the development of enterprise by exploiting the indigenous strengths of local economies. Using recent empirical research, this paper systematically analyses the relationship between large scale speculative commercial development and the local economy. The outcome is the formulation of a working taxonomy based on a number of key impacts. The recommendations emanating from this paper with regard to assessing proposals for speculative commercial development against a sustainable agenda are relevant to practitioners throughout Europe.