Small and middle sized companies (SME) are important for local economies. Networking of SME is often considered to be a vital activity as well in production operations but also in innovation activities (Vesalainen 2006, Bessant and Tidd 2007.) From the perspective of small businesses the value...

Governance has become a central topic among policymakers. There is an international consensus that policymaking is evolving from a traditional top-down government approach towards a system of governing that focuses on engaging the citizens within an area (Cabus, 2003). New forms of governance...

The renewal of the city started from the examination of urban conditions of comfort/discomfort (safety, mobility, environment, social cohesion); this required the direct involvement of the city's inhabitants as experts of the urban environment, and therefore able to suggest solutions. Nowadays...

The current urban planning model for Spanish cities does not meet the criteria for successful urban sustainability, in fact quite the opposite, it follows the disperse city model introduced twenty years ago by the boom in the construction industry and improved communication infrastructures. In...

This paper analyses an alternative measurement framework capable of capturing the return on investment of urban regeneration projects through a cost-benefit analysis. Financial returns on investment are calculated as the ratio between the benefits accruing from the performance of a given project...

The city of Larissa in Greece has an important role in national and regional level. For the past 3 decades, the image of the city has considerably altered. A series of proposals concerning the regulation of urban space and the realisation of their objectives contributed to this. These proposals...

Uncontrolled and sprawling growth in physical space is one of the primary problems of metropolitan cities. Urban sprawl, which can be defined as the rapid peripheral growth of cities, is criticized in terms of leading problems such as occupying cultivated areas and environment, removing away...

This paper evaluates the effect of the French enterprise zone program on residents of these deprived neighborhoods. A second contribution is the evaluation of the composition effects in the zones and of externalities on the neighbors of the enterprise zones. The third contribution is the...

Urban revitalization programs are widespread used but empirically understudied place-based policy instruments which attract increasing attention in recent years. This study adds to the existing literature by evaluating the selection process which led to the designation of a set of five urban...

The recent development of high speed train in Europe means significant modifications in the accessibility conditions of the inhabitants. But the development of the new network also provides a unique opportunity for the surroundings of the stations. This development depends strongly on the...