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Development Clusters for Small Places and Rural Development for Territorial Cohesion?

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  • Eduardo Medeiros

    (DINÂMIA’CET—IUL, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Avenida das Forças Armadas, Edifício Sedas Nunes, Sala 2W4-d, 1649-026 Lisboa, Portugal)

Abstract

This article proposes an alternative policy development approach for territories encompassing rural areas with small urban settlements or ‘small places’, which normally suffer from lagging territorial development trends. The proposed ‘Development Clusters for Small Places’ approach draws on the potential of all places to further their development via municipal clustering, based on four analytic dimensions: (i) existing functional areas; (ii) similarities in economic circularity and specialisation; (iii) presence of ongoing territorial and governance cooperation processes; and (iv) spatial physical connectivity and accessibility. Besides a theoretical overview of this policy approach, the article analyses concrete examples of its potential implementation in two case studies: Alentejo in Portugal and Innlandet in Norway. The findings highlight the potential advantages of municipal clustering over current mainstream regional development rationales to implement endogenous rural development in a supra-municipal scale, thus increasing institutional thickness and policy influence towards a more territorial cohesive region.

Suggested Citation

  • Eduardo Medeiros, 2021. "Development Clusters for Small Places and Rural Development for Territorial Cohesion?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-25, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2021:i:1:p:84-:d:708672
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gary Paul Green & John Aloysius Zinda, 2013. "Rural development theory," Chapters, in: Gary Paul Green (ed.), Handbook of Rural Development, chapter 1, pages i-ii, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Ali˙ye A. Akgün & Tüzi˙n Baycan-Levent & Peter Nijkamp & Jacques Poot, 2011. "Roles of Local and Newcomer Entrepreneurs in Rural Development: A Comparative Meta-analytic Study," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(9), pages 1207-1223, February.
    3. Aliye Ahu Akgün & Tüzin Baycan & Peter Nijkamp, 2015. "Rethinking on Sustainable Rural Development," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(4), pages 678-692, April.
    4. Neil Ward & David L. Brown, 2009. "Placing the Rural in Regional Development," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(10), pages 1237-1244, December.
    5. Eduardo Medeiros & Arno van der Zwet, 2020. "Sustainable and Integrated Urban Planning and Governance in Metropolitan and Medium-Sized Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-20, July.
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