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The article is devoted to the grounding of directions that can be used by regional government bodies with the aim of minimization of negative influence of financial-economic crisis. The peculiarities of regions as subjects of economic development are considered. The mix of measures is proposed to increase the competitiveness of regional economy in conditions of financial-economic crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of "regionalization" is a "top down" process, while "regionalism" has more of a "bottom up" sense. Regionalism is determined by history, culture, collective mentality. Regionalization requires a political decision at the level of the state, of the Parliament. Relevant inter-regional disparities are found (between counties which are parts of a region). There are opinions that favor a greater number of regions, with a greater homogeneity. One can find a significant dispersion of indicators that assess the level of development within the Development Regions. After in 2007 the EU approved the POR 2007-2013 Regional Operational Program, the practical problem of establishing national growth poles, in order to finance the development projects with priority, was raised [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resilience is attracting increasing interest in the thinking and policy discourses around regional development. However, regional development policy remains dominated by a narrow discourse of competitiveness that appears to have negative implications for resilience and is subject to increasing and widespread challenge and critique. Using the Cultural Political Economy approach, this paper explores the complex relationships that exist between competitiveness and resilience and argues that de-contextualised, placeless competitiveness strategies lead to problems of resilience that can be at least partly overcome with respect to more contextualised approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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]

This paper undertakes a critical assessment of the influence of the EU Cohesion policy on regionalisation and the role of regional institutions in Central and Eastern Europe. It addresses questions that are central to ongoing theoretical debates about the role of the region in the new member states. Have the powers and resources of the regions been strengthened by their involvement in EU support programmes? Are regions increasingly involved in integrated 'bottom-up' responses to regional development challenges? The paper offers a fresh perspective on these issues, with a cross-national analysis of practical experience in the postenlargement period and a detailed assessment of the technical, variable, and complex reality of working with EU Structural Funds. A distinctive approach of the analysis is to disaggregate the stages of Structural Funds programme management and delivery, thereby highlighting the varied nature of regional involvement in Structural Funds. Ultimately, the paper questions the notion that Structural Funds build regional structures and competence, and lead to 'stronger regions'. Instead, it is argued that there is no guarantee that the Structural Funds will necessarily promote regionalisation in Central and Eastern Europe, at least in the short to medium terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shift to a knowledge-based economy and the resurgence of interest in the region as a scale of economic organization have been a subject of much debate. Such concepts as innovation, learning, and knowledge diffusion have all come to be seen as crucial elements of regional development strategies associated with the new regionalism. Specifically, the learning region — shifting the focus from technological progress to institutional and cultural factors — has been thought of as offering particularly interesting insights into the mechanisms of regional economies. Yet doubts are being cast on whether the processes of development are actually as critical to the spatial workings of the economy as the paradigm assumes. This is of relevance to a post-Communist country such as Poland, which, having undergone a systemic transformation, seems to be marked by growing core–periphery and urban–rural divides. Thus, the question arises of whether the theories associated with the new regionalism might help Polish regions to transform their economic fortunes. This article, while emphasizing new regionalism's inadequacies and flaws, argues that some of its premises should form part of a comprehensive strategy aiming to address Poland's regional-level problems. Hence it makes a case for an eclectic approach that combines nationwide economic liberalization with certain precepts of the new regionalism. Résumé Le passage vers une économie fondée sur le savoir et le regain d'intérêt pour la région en tant qu'échelon d'organisation économique ont été bien souvent débattus. Des notions telles que innovation, apprentissage et diffusion du savoir ont toutes fini par être considérées comme essentielles aux stratégies de développement régional liées au nouveau régionalisme. En particulier, on a pensé que la région apprenante – en décalant l'attention du progrès technologique vers des facteurs institutionnels et culturels – offrait des perspectives très intéressantes sur les mécanismes des économies régionales. Pourtant des doutes sont émis sur le fait que les processus de développement soient réellement aussi vitaux pour les mécanismes spatiaux de l'économie que l'affirme le paradigme. C'est notamment le cas d'un pays post-communiste comme la Pologne qui, ayant vécu une transformation systématique, semble être marquée par une accentuation des divisions centre-périphérie et urbain-rural. La question se pose donc de savoir si les théories associées au nouveau régionalisme pourraient aider les régions polonaises à transformer leur destin économique. L'article, tout en soulignant les insuffisances et défauts du nouveau régionalisme, soutient que certaines de ses hypothèses devraient participer à une stratégie d'ensemble visant à résoudre les problèmes de la Pologne au plan régional. Il plaide ainsi pour une approche éclectique associant la libéralisation économique nationale à certains préceptes du nouveau régionalisme. [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]

As interest in informal methods of regional coordination has grown, it is increasingly important to understand how alternative forms of regional governance emerge. This article addresses this question through analysis of recent attempts at regional transportation coordination in South Florida. Through a detailed case study of the creation of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, we demonstrate how informal ties among transportation stakeholders were strengthened over time in ways that eventually made possible the creation of a more formal coordinating mechanism for regional transportation policy. A formal network analysis of transportation stakeholders in South Florida further illustrates the way the strength of ties among those involved in transportation policy in the region facilitated increased regional coordination and positioned business organizations to act as policy entrepreneurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

The article discusses the author's evaluation on the regional administration system in Scotland. It has been known that both the Conservative and Labour parties are recently committed to a degree of regional administration. According to the author, the "Programme for Regional Development and Growth in the North East" that was published in November 1963 argued on the effectiveness of central administration in the country. The publication explained that the central administration will only be effective if policies and decisions are informed and reinforced by regionally-based machinery.

The article discusses the issues on regional planning and the actions taken by the national government for the plan. The author aims to challenge and argue the views of other authors who previously commented on the regional planning issue. According to the author, regional planning cannot work successfully without the effective concentration of responsibilities at the central government, as well as the substantial devolution of powers to democratically constituted regional agencies. The author stressed that the existing regional plans have diverse administrative origins and are motivated by pressing problems unfamiliar to the area.

The article discusses the concepts of regionalism and regionalization which refer to the process of examining, understanding, identifying and analyzing regional development features. Topics discussed include uses of the concepts in the field of political science, global studies and international economics, different origins and definitions of both terms and the advantage of regionalism as a concept in understanding regional development.