Regional development
Regional development explains, from an analytical point of view, socio-economic and environmental processes within regions. From a normative point of view, regional development endeavors to improve the socio-economic and environmental situation within regions. It is about the question of how a region can be developed sustainably. Sub-national spatial units are usually seen as a region . Regional development has so far not been a separate scientific discipline, but can be found in various disciplines ( geography , spatial planning , economics and political science ) as a subdiscipline.
Actors and instruments
The factors and actors that can influence the development of a region are innumerable and difficult to systematize. In general, there are many political measures (e.g. funding programs) that are directly aimed at positively influencing the development of a region. These can be found at all political levels: from the European level with the regional policy of the European Union to the local level with economic development and climate and regional management. Apart from financial instruments - often in the form of funding programs - politicians also try to strengthen regions with legal or persuasive instruments.
In addition to the public sector, other actors who can influence the development of a region are the economy and civil society. For example, business decisions to invest in a certain location always have an impact on the development of a region. But the population can also exert influence through initiatives or protest movements (e.g. for or against wind power, for or against a bypass, etc.).
The endogenous regional development here is an approach that is to be achieved primarily by the positive development of the regions by using its own potentials.
Subject areas
Regional development deals with countless different questions from the economy, society and the environment. There are studies for all scales: from local to global.
Some examples of current research topics:
- Regional development is concerned with measuring disparities between regions. She tries to explain them and thus be able to develop recommendations for action in practice.
- Regional development deals with current initiatives to strengthen regions (e.g. clusters, regional products) and examines their effects on the regions.
- Regional development addresses urban-rural relationships and the currently discussed metropolitanization.
- Regional development deals with the energy transition and its effects on the regions.
See also
literature
- Tobias Chilla , Olaf Kühne , Markus Neufeld: Regional development. Verlag Eugen Ulmer (utb), Stuttgart 2016, ISBN 978-3-8252-4566-5 .
- Martin Heintel : Regional Development . In: Academy for Spatial Research and Regional Planning (Ed.): Concise dictionary of urban and spatial development. S. 2007-2016. Hanover 2018: ARL ISBN 978-3-88838-560-5
- Martin Heintel : Mainstream regional development . In: Land Use and Landentwicklung, Heft 42, Volume 5, pp. 193–200. Berlin 2001: Blackwell.