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199 Pages·2010·1.106 MB·English
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fl Critical Re ections on Regional Competitiveness Since the early 1990s, governments and development agencies have become increasinglypreoccupiedwiththepursuitofregionalcompetitiveness.However, there is considerable confusion around what exactly regional competitiveness means, how it might be achieved, whether and how it can be measured, and whether it is a meaningful and appropriate goal for regional economies. The central aim ofthisbook isto providea comprehensiveand critical account of these debates with reference to theory, policy and practice, and thus to explore the meaning and value of the concept of regional competitiveness. The book is structured into three parts. Part I introduces the concept of regional competitiveness by tracing its origins and exploring its different meanings in regional economic development. This will critically engage with political economy approaches to understanding the nature and dominance of the competitiveness discourse. Part II interrogates the pursuit of regional competitiveness in policy and practice. This critically evaluates the degree to which the pursuit of competitiveness is encouraging convergence in policy agendas in regions through an examination of key determinants of policy sameness and difference, notably benchmarking and devolved governance. Part III explores the limitations to regional competitiveness and explores whether and how its predominance in the policy discourse might be chal- lenged by alternative agendas such as sustainable development andwellbeing. This focuses on the developing qualitative characterof regional development. This volume critically engages with the theory and policy of regional com- petitiveness, thus providing the first integrated critique of the concept for undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as academics interested in regional development and policy. It will unpack the concept of regional com- petitivenessandexplainitsusefulness,limitationsandpolicyappeal,aswellas examining its sustainability in the light of evolving governance structures and the imperatives of broadening regional development agendas. Gillian BristowisaReaderinEconomicGeographyintheSchoolofCityand RegionalPlanning,CardiffUniversity.Herresearchinterestsfocusonregional economicdevelopment,governanceandpolicy.Thisbookdevelopsherseminal critique of regional competitiveness published in the Journal of Economic Geography in 2005. Routledge Studies in Human Geography This series provides a forum for innovative, vibrant, and critical debate within Human Geography.Titleswillreflectthewealthofresearchwhichistakingplaceinthisdiverseand ever-expandingfield. Contributionswill be drawn from the main sub-disciplines and from innovative areas of workwhichhavenoparticularsub-disciplinaryallegiances. Published: 1 AGeographyofIslands 8 PovertyandtheThirdWay Smallislandinsularity ColinC.Williamsand StephenA.Royle JanWindebank 2 Citizenships,Contingencyand 9 AgeingandPlace theCountryside EditedbyGavinJ.Andrewsand Rights,culture,landand DavidR.Phillips theenvironment GavinParker 10 GeographiesofCommodityChains EditedbyAlexHughesand 3 TheDifferentiatedCountryside SuzanneReimer JonathanMurdoch,PhilipLowe, NeilWardandTerryMarsden 11 QueeringTourism Paradoxicalperformancesat 4 TheHumanGeographyofEast gayprideparades CentralEurope LyndaT.Johnston DavidTurnock 12 Cross-ContinentalFoodChains 5 ImaginedRegionalCommunities EditedbyNielsFoldandBillPritchard Integrationandsovereigntyinthe globalsouth 13 PrivateCities JamesDSidaway EditedbyGeorgGlasze,ChrisWebster andKlausFrantz 6 MappingModernities GeographiesofCentralandEastern 14 GlobalGeographiesofPost Europe1920–2000 SocialistTransition AlanDingsdale TassiloHerrschel 7 RuralPoverty 15 UrbanDevelopmentin Marginalisationandexclusionin Post-ReformChina BritainandtheUnitedStates FulongWu,JiangXuand PaulMilbourne AnthonyGar-OnYeh 16 RuralGovernance 24 SensingCities Internationalperspectives MonicaDegen EditedbyLyndaCheshire, VaughanHigginsand 25 InternationalMigration GeoffreyLawrence andKnowledge AllanWilliamsand 17 GlobalPerspectivesonRural VladimirBaláž ChildhoodandYouth Youngrurallives 26 TheSpatialTurn EditedbyRuthPanelli, Interdisciplinaryperspectives SamanthaPunch,and BarneyWarfandSantaArias ElsbethRobson 27 WhoseUrbanRenaissance? 18 WorldCitySyndrome Aninternationalcomparison Neoliberalismandinequality ofurbanregenerationpolicies inCapeTown LibbyPorterandKatieShaw DavidA.McDonald 28 RethinkingMaps 19 ExploringPostDevelopment MartinDodge,RobKitchinand AramZiai ChrisPerkins 20 FamilyFarms 29 Rural–UrbanDynamics HaroldBrookfieldandHelenParsons Livelihoods,mobilityand marketsinAfricanand 21 ChinaontheMove Asianfrontiers Migration,thestate,and JytteAgergaard,NielsFoldand thehousehold KatherineV.Gough C.CindyFan 30 SpacesofVernacularCreativity 22 ParticipatoryActionResearch Rethinkingthecultural ApproachesandMethods economy Connectingpeople,participation TimEdensor,DeborahLeslie, andplace SteveMillingtonand SaraKindon,RachelPainand NormaRantisi MikeKesby 31 CriticalReflectionsonRegional 23 Time-SpaceCompression Competitiveness Historicalgeographies Theory,policyandpractice BarneyWarf GillianBristow Notyetpublished: 32 GovernanceandPlanningof 33 DesignEconomiesandtheChanging Mega-CityRegions WorldEconomy AnthonyYehandJiangXu Innovation,productionand competitiveness JohnBrysonandGreteRustin fl Critical Re ections on Regional Competitiveness Theory, policy and practice Gillian Bristow Firstpublished2010 byRoutledge 2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada byRoutledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2010. To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk. ©2010GillianBristow Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedor utilizedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,now knownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orin anyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwriting fromthepublishers. BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Bristow,Gillian. Criticalreflectionsonregionalcompetitiveness:theory,policyand practice/GillianBristow. p.cm.–(Routledgestudiesinhumangeography;31) Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. 1.Regionaleconomics.2.Competition.3.Regionalplanning.I.Title. HT388.B752009 338.900917–dc22 2009021463 ISBN 0-203-86540-5 Master e-book ISBN ISBN13978-0-415-47159-6(hbk) ISBN13978-0-203-86540-8(ebk) ISBN100-415-47159-1(hbk) ISBN100-203-86540-5(ebk) Contents List of illustrations ix Preface x Acknowledgements xi Abbreviations xii PARTI The discourse of regional competitiveness 1 Introduction: neoliberalism and the regional competitiveness hegemony 3 1 What is regional competitiveness? 13 2 The political economyof regional competitiveness 27 PARTII Regional competitiveness in policy and practice 47 3 Competitiveness and the ‘one-size-fits-all’regional policy consensus 49 4 Performance indicators and rankings: deconstructing competitiveness league tables 68 5 Resisting or restating competitiveness? Variation, recontextualization and the role of the regional state 95 viii Contents PARTIII Moving beyond competitiveness 119 6 The limits to competitiveness 121 7 Resilient regions: re‘place’-ing regional competitiveness 139 Conclusions 156 Notes 159 Bibliography 160 Index of authors 176 Index of subjects 179 Illustrations Tables 4.1 Existing indices of regional competitiveness 73 4.2 Dimensions covered by sample of regional composite indices 81 4.3 UK Regional Competitiveness Index 2008 (UK = 100) 87 Box 3.1 Regional competitiveness strategies: some international examples 56

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