Written by authors with years of academic, regional, and city planning experience, the classic Planning Local Economic Development has laid the foundation for practitioners and academics working in planning and policy development for generations. With deeper coverage of sustainability and resiliency, the new Sixth Edition explores the theories of local economic development while addressing the issues and opportunities faced by cities, towns, and local entities in crafting their economic destinies within the global economy. Nancey Green Leigh and Edward J. Blakely provide a thoroughly up-to-date exploration of planning processes, analytical techniques and data, and locality, business, and human resource development, as well as advanced technology and sustainable economic development strategies.

In economic development, theory and practice exist as two seemingly separate realities. Academics strive to develop or refine theory by drawing on abstract concepts about the way people behave and institutions work, while practitioners draw from a stock of experiences. By bringing together leading theorists and practitioners such as Blakely, Blair, McCann, Luger, Gunder, Stough and Stimson, this book provides the first comprehensive overview of local economic development theories for over fifteen years. It explores the theory behind the key concepts that every economic practitioner must understand and in doing so, ties together the various theories from across the disciplines to practice.

Presenting state-of-the-art theoretical positions on important development issues such as the inner city, technological innovation and rebuilding economic infrastructure are explored in this volume. The contributors to this volume, drawn from various social science backgrounds, explore a variety of theories and examine them in relation to the practical actions of local economic development.

This book offers insights into the process and the practice of local economic development. Bridging the gap between theory and practice it demonstrates the relevance of theory to inform local strategic planning in the context of widespread disparities in regional economic performance. The book summarizes the core theories of economic development, applies each of these to professional practice, and provides detailed commentary on them. This updated second edition includes more recent contributions - regional innovation, agglomeration and dynamic theories – and presents the major ideas that inform economic development strategic planning, particularly in the United States and Canada. The text offers theoretical insights that help explain why some regions thrive while others languish and why metropolitan economies often rise and fall over time. Without theory, economic developers can only do what is politically feasible. This text, however, provides them with a logical tool for thinking about development and establishing an independent basis from which to build the local consensus needed for evidence-based action undertaken in the public interest. Offering valuable perspectives on both the process and the practice of local and regional economic development, this book will be useful for both current and future economic developers to think more profoundly and confidently about their local economy.

Exploring the theories of local economic development that are relevant to dilemmas facing communities today, this third edition expands on issues such as the planning process, analytical techniques and high-technology strategies.

A comprehensive introduction to the economics of local economic development. The approach is people centered and recognizes contributions from other social sciences.

Regional economics – an established discipline for several decades – has undergone a period of rapid change in the last ten years resulting in the emergence of several new perspectives. At the same time the methodology of regional economics has also experienced some surprising developments. This fully revised and updated Handbook brings together contributions looking at new pathways in regional economics, written by many well-known international scholars. The aim is to present the most cutting-edge theories explaining regional growth and local development. The authors highlight the recent advances in theories, the normative potentialities of these theories and the cross-fertilization of ideas between regional and mainstream economists. It will be an essential source of reference and information for both scholars and students in the field.

Provides a comprehensive look at local economic development and public policy, placing special emphasis on quality of life and sustainability. It draws extensively on case studies, and includes both mainstream and alternative perspectives in dealing with economic growth and development issues. The contributions of economic theories and empirical research to the policy debates, and the relationship of both to quality of life and sustainability are explored and clarified.

The Handbook of Alternative Theories of Economic Development explores the theories and approaches which, over a prolonged period of time, have existed as viable alternatives to today’s mainstream and neo-classical tenets. With a total of 40 specially commissioned chapters, written by the foremost authorities in their respective fields, this volume represents a landmark in the field of economic development. It elucidates the richness of the alternative and sometimes misunderstood ideas which, in different historical contexts, have proved to be vital to the improvement of the human condition. The subject matter is approached from several complementary perspectives. From a historical angle, the Handbook charts the mercantilist and cameralist theories that emerged from the Renaissance and developed further during the Enlightenment. From a geographical angle, it includes chapters on African, Chinese, Indian, and Muslim approaches to economic development. Different schools are also explored and discussed including nineteenth century US development theory, Marxist, Schumpeterian, Latin American structuralism, regulation theory and world systems theories of development. In addition, the Handbook has chapters on important events and institutions including The League of Nations, The Havana Charter, and UNCTAD, as well as on particularly influential development economists. Contemporary topics such as the role of finance, feminism, the agrarian issue, and ecology and the environment are also covered in depth. This comprehensive Handbook offers an unrivalled review and analysis of alternative and heterodox theories of economic development. It should be read by all serious scholars, teachers and students of development studies, and indeed anyone interested in alternatives to development orthodoxy.

"This book reviews theories of local economic development and shows how each theory informs real-world policy and practice. The authors lay out the basic assumptions, concepts, and implications of the most important theories of economic growth and go on to explain how each theory or approach translates into a strategy for economic development. Students and practitioners alike will be able to recognize the policy implications of alternative theories of local economic development." --Book Jacket.