This handbook brings together a group of leading scholars, thinkers, policy makers, and business leaders to identify, articulate, and analyse what influences and shapes local competitiveness and what places can do to enhance their economic performance.

The long-run effects of regional integration are analyzed in this book. On the basis of the development of a model of endogenous regional growth (which combines an endogenous growth model with aspects of ""new"" economic geography) and an empirical analysis of stylized facts for the European...

Introduction to small cities : how to describe/define them? -- Small cities in a world of mega-cities -- What are the strengths and weaknesses of smaller cities? -- Is size important? -- Public policy and small cities in North America -- Public policies and small cities in the European Union --...