Développement territorial et relations de proximité

The aim of this article is to analyze and to demonstrate the link between territorial development processes and proximity relations, by overtaking the traditional production relations and localized systems based approach with a widened study of innovation and careful attention to governance processes. First we give a precise and argued definition of territorial development, as well as proximity relations. Then we present and analyze the two engines of territorial development - production relations and governance processes - by exploring their theoretical origins, in connection with some related works in terms of proximity. We end with a detailed analysis of the link between proximity relations and territorial development processes, first static, with an extension of the hirschmanian tripod to territorial situations, be there productive or in terms of governance, then dynamic by a study of the territorial development paths and their links to proximity situations.