The Place Dimension of Cities and Regions: Governance, Industrial Development and Sustainability

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Industrial development and innovation are recognised as drivers to sustain inclusive and sustainable growth in the long term. For this, national governments will need not only to facilitate the efficiency of markets and to ensure the expansion of current endowments and capabilities, but also to ease the creation of new sectors and new enterprises and new technologies. Less attention is sometimes given to the place side of development – yet territory matters. Social, economic and institutional characteristics of the urban and regional environment contribute to the productivity of firms and their capacity to cope with rising competitive pressures. Among other things, territories are, in fact, the expressions of know-how that are not easily transposable and which shape development trajectories. Experience suggests that city and regional governments can be pivotal in supporting new business models or forms of innovation and can mobilise production development in their territories through interventions in supply chains and the provision of training, and lead the transition to low carbon and SMART economies. The recent past has seen a revival of regional industrial policy. New policies have been built on recent insights into the drivers of competitive advantage and are characterized by a focus on local production systems, on networking and partnerships, and more strategic forms of policy intervention. In addition, policy formulation and implementation has generally become part of an interactive process of consultation and consensus building, and, to a large extent, involves the co -ordination and reshaping of existing instruments and governance arrangements rather than the development of entirely new ones.

This conference will discuss the emergence of new forms of industrial development and policies targeted on the competitiveness of regions and cities. The aim of the conference is to share knowledge and experiences in industrial and territorial development. Developed, emerging, and developing economies are heterogeneous. They differ in assets, resources and institutional capabilities, but there are common features of the industrial development process that make knowledge sharing a valuable exercise. The conference will explore new and emerging concepts and understandings that are influencing the shaping of industrial development and policy: how policy makers perceive the balance between more ingenious, innovation-oriented approaches and approaches targeted in foreign investments; how to understand the different outcomes in the various regions. We anticipate this programme will cover areas including local supply chains and networks of firms, urban and regional labour markets and multiplier effects, infrastructure, and long-term responsible business practice. The conference will also seek to point to some of the more recent changes in concepts that have made their way from theoretical and conceptual thinking to policy implementation, and will discuss the implications of these changes for academic research as well as policy-making.

The Broad Themes