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This paper reports on the results of research to explore a range of attempts to develop new regional forms, and considers the degree to which they accord to conceptualisations of the ‘new regionalism’ and accounts of the changing territorial structure of the state. It highlights the array of new regional configurations which now extends across the territory of the European Union, discussing the influence exerted by the growth of interest in European spatial planning over the course of the 1990s and considering the degree to which readings of new regionalist rhetoric have informed both the creation and substance of a number of recently conceived regional entities. The paper concludes by considering the implications posed by the growth of these new regional configurations for attempts to interpret the rescaling of governance and the reterritorialisation of the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural resources are today the object of considerable attention in regional economics. Ground for new forms of innovation these resources have given rise to numerous works aiming at understanding the emergence and organisation of culture based economic activities and at identifying the role of these activities in regional development and urban planning. The objective of this article is to explore the way in which resources, and in particular cultural resources, are incorporated into production processes on the one hand, and the consequences on the resources of doing so on the other hand. Becoming an economic resource, a cultural “object” (symbol, image, cultural heritage, traditional know-how, etc.) becomes embedded within commercial relationships. The question we address here is what are the causes and consequences of this commodification of culture for the production systems, the customers and for the local communities which put a certain number of their constitutive elements into play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hudson R. (2007) Regions and regional uneven development forever? Some reflective comments upon theory and practice, Regional Studies 41, 1149-1160. In recent years, for a variety of reasons, there has been a resurgence of interest in 'the region' from a variety of both intellectual and practical perspectives, with the somewhat surprising result that regional studies have come to be of central concern and the region has come to occupy a central place in social scientific discourse and political debates. In this, questions of power loom large. This paper examines four, to a degree inter-weaving, sets of key questions, framed by a concern with who has the power of decision, in both intellectual debates about regions and regional policy and practice. First, how is the region to be defined? Secondly, how can the concept of governmentality deepen one's understanding of regions? Thirdly, how are 'the region's interests' to be defined? And finally, how is regional economic development to be defined? Problematizing what is meant by the terms 'region' and 'development' in these ways and posing and exploring questions such as these will allow the study of regions to be taken forward in a progressive manner in the future... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey’s regional policies are inspired by the new regionalism theory. During past two decades, key concepts of new regionalism, including knowledge economies, specialization, networked cities and innovation, have been incorporated in policy documents. At the same time, Turkey comes from a strong central state tradition that controls local and regional development. At first insight, new regionalism and strong central state control do not fit in the same frame. This research analyses the trajectory of regional policies in Turkey with the aim of explaining how these seemingly incompatible policies can coexist. It argues that regional policies developed at the central state level utilized new regionalism as a part of the strategy to maintain power in the course of transformation of the nation state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]