The role of regional and local agencies and actors in responding to economic crises and opportunities in New Zealand and Australia
This study aims to gain applied and theoretical insights into responses to increasing socioeconomic spatial inequalities in Australia and New Zealand and to assess the degree to which regional and local agencies are responding, and with what effectiveness, to these changes. This will be undertaken to better inform both spatial economic theory, and applied regional and local development practice in New Zealand, Australia and beyond. Evolutionary economic geography and regional resilience theory will provide the primary theoretical lenses for this proposed study.
Two key objectives will shape the research:
1) To gain a nuanced and spatially focused applied and theoretically informed understanding of growing social and economic inequalities and responses in New Zealand and Australia at the regional and sub-regional levels.
2) To determine the nature of the challenges faced in the ‘lagging’ regions and sub-regions, and the effectiveness of the current interventions undertaken by regional and local agencies in addressing historical economic dependence of former core activities and re-orientating their economies along new development paths.
Read the blog article about this research here: https://blog.regionalstudies.org/responses-to-regional-and-loca/
Receiving an MeRSA grant provided the opportunity to test the relevance of my current research approach in two different countries. In so doing it laid the basis for an international comparison, which otherwise would not have been possible, and it laid the groundwork for a later successful national grant application. I am very grateful for the support which the RSA provides to its members.