Regional Development: Principles, Policy, and Practice

Catalog description

Regional growth and development, focusing on challenges to theory, policy, and practice, emphasizing change in metropolitan, micropolitan, and rural areas. CEDEV 560 Regional Development: Principles, Policy, and Practice (3) Effective regional development requires that history, theory, and policy are reflected in practice. Globalization impacts the development of regions and places in the United States and around the world. In this context, the development of regions impacts and is impacted by the pace and level of development elsewhere. Regional development addresses issues of how growth and disparity are spatially distributed and differentiated, and what causes these patterns to occur. The challenge is twofold. The first challenge is defining exactly what a region is and identifying who ultimately decides the policies and practices that determine its fate. The second is determining who benefits and who bares the costs of particular local and regional development approaches. The purpose of this course is to introduce students to concepts and frameworks of regional development. The first part of the course focuses on definitions and theories of regional growth and development, and begins to uncover ambiguities in pre-existing definitions and theories of regional development associated with topics such as growth and development theory, the new geography, cluster economics, and sustainability. It then delves into various policy approaches and issues including regional, environmental, and rural issues. The course culminates with a discussion of putting regional theory and policy into practice through case studies. Issues and topics addressed in this course include identifying a region and defining 'place'; understanding the relationship between economic efficiency and sustainability; sustainable development and place-based development; the use of policy and its framing to allow regions and places to build on their assets. Additionally, the course will address how regions become interdependent and how relationships can be optimized in this context, and determining the best way and available sources to garner capital to fund development projects. Students will learn how to identify the assets of a region and the impact of interregional collaboration. The course will provide students with the opportunity to analyze the politics of regional development and the important considerations in regional development planning and practice.