This paper assesses the prospects for the Regional Development Agency (RDA) initiative, in light of the experience of Britain's Urban Development Corporation (UDC) programme. It explores the contrasts between the two initiatives and considers the prospects for the RDA programme. The paper argues...

Local Enterprise Partnerships in England were intended as organic entities in which coalitions of local actors, led by business interests, would determine locally relevant policy for self-defined spatial units. Informed by ideas around localism and the desire to extend sub-national economic...

This article looks at the international dimension of local and regional economic development policy. We illustrate our argument about the difficulties of comparing the relative effectiveness of policy using the experience of a comparative study of local and regional economic development in...

This article examines soft spaces, soft outcomes and soft infrastructure, trying to make some connections between them. We argue that soft spaces of governance constitute one of the most important but little understood components of contemporary sub-national economic development policy.

This article looks at the international dimension of local and regional economic development policy. We illustrate our argument about the difficulties of comparing the relative effectiveness of policy using the experience of a comparative study of local and regional economic development in...