The quest for an elusive regional development: black box or political project

Abstract

The paper has been written for students of regional development and those charged with coming up with suggestions that would either stimulate or back this process. The paper underlines the growing importance of territorial development and, consequent upon this, the imperative need to put together a technology adequate to the demands of this same grounded both upon macro-economic considerations tied in with the new world order's political and economic realities that would thus give organized territories a role within international competition as well as others, grounded upon micro-economic considerations, that would deal with those individual life projects that relate to the physical environment and thus bring with them considerations of equity and justice. The paper divides into two parts: a first in which previously suggested ideas having to do with the new characteristics of regional and territorial development are systematized and sorted; a second in which the concepts as to the causal factors underlying territorial level development are offered, this coupled with argument in favour of a need to formulate genuine political projects up to solidly and intelligently articulating such factors to the end of bringing about genuine development at this scale.