IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2021i1p84-d708672.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • 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
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/1/84/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/1/84/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    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.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Burcu Yaşlak & Aliye Ahu Akgün & Tüzin Baycan, 2023. "Social networks of online rural entrepreneurs: the case of Turkey," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 70(3), pages 705-721, June.
    2. Gianluca Iannucci & Federico Martellozzo & Filippo Randelli, 2022. "Sustainable development of rural areas: a dynamic model in between tourism exploitation and landscape decline," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 991-1016, July.
    3. Amitrajeet A. Batabyal & Hamid Beladi, 2019. "Preference matching, income, and population distribution in urban and adjacent rural regions," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 98(5), pages 2201-2208, October.
    4. repec:ags:ijag24:344656 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Sánchez-Mateos, Héctor Martínez & Ruiz Pulpón, Ángel Raúl, 2025. "The challenge of access to healthcare services as a condition for territorial equity. A methodological approach for sparsely populated rural areas," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    6. Go, Frank M. & Trunfio, Mariapina & Lucia, Maria Della, 2013. "Social capital and governance for sustainable rural development," Studies in Agricultural Economics, Research Institute for Agricultural Economics, vol. 115(2), pages 1-7, June.
    7. Don J. Webber & Stephanié Rossouw, 2010. "Sub-national vulnerability measures:A spatial perspective," Working Papers 1004, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol.
    8. Freshwater, David, 2021. "The main forces affecting rural regions in 2020," Village and Agriculture (Wieś i Rolnictwo), Polish Academy of Sciences (IRWiR PAN), Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development, vol. 189(4), February.
    9. Sara Bianchi & Anna Richiedei, 2023. "Territorial Governance for Sustainable Development: A Multi-Level Governance Analysis in the Italian Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-28, January.
    10. Allen J. Scott, 2012. "The Cultural Economy of Landscape and prospects for peripheral development in the twenty-first century: the case of the English Lake District," Chapters, in: Enrico Bertacchini & Giangiacomo Bravo & Massimo Marrelli & Walter Santagata (ed.), Cultural Commons, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Ying Zhang & Xinyu Xie & Xiaoping Qiu & Zheng Jing & Yongqian Yu & Yan Wang, 2023. "Study on Livelihood Resilience of Rural Residents under the Rural Revitalization Strategy in Ethnic Areas of Western Sichuan, China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-19, October.
    12. Marta Cordini & Tatjana Boczy & Ruggero Cefalo, 2021. "Place-Sensitive Social Investment and Territorial Cohesion: Implications for Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-16, June.
    13. Magdalena Kowalska & Ewa Chomać-Pierzecka, 2025. "Sustainable Development Through the Lens of Climate Change: A Diagnosis of Attitudes in Southeastern Rural Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-21, June.
    14. Marco Baudino, 2021. "Rural-to-urban migration in developing economies: characterizing the role of the rural labor supply in the process of urban agglomeration and city growth," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 66(3), pages 533-556, June.
    15. Tracy Iveren Kile & Monday Akpegi Onah & Joseph Enefu, 2024. "Settlement Restructuring for Enhanced Socio-Economic Development in Ushongo Local Government Area, Benue State, Nigeria," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(3), pages 669-689, March.
    16. Wolski, Oskar, 2019. "Digitalization of Rural Areas and Agriculture in the EU Debate: How Far from What Research Says?," Village and Agriculture (Wieś i Rolnictwo), Polish Academy of Sciences (IRWiR PAN), Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development, vol. 183(01), March.
    17. Sirajuddin, Zulham & Grudens-Schuck, Nancy, . "Public Participation in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Projects in South and Southeast Asia: A Literature Review," Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development, Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), vol. 14(01).
    18. Maja Mladenović & Dušan J. Simjanović & Branislav M. Ranđelović & Sanja Dobričanin & Nemanja Zdravković & Dragan Đokić, 2025. "New Frontiers in Determining Criteria and Strategies in Rural Area Sustainable Development in Serbia: Fuzzy AHP Approach," World, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-26, October.
    19. Ernan Rustiadi & Andrea Emma Pravitasari & Rista Ardy Priatama & Jane Singer & Junaidi Junaidi & Zulgani Zulgani & Rizqi Ianatus Sholihah, 2023. "Regional Development, Rural Transformation, and Land Use/Cover Changes in a Fast-Growing Oil Palm Region: The Case of Jambi Province, Indonesia," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-20, May.
    20. Chi, Guangqing & Marcouiller, David W., 2012. "Recreational Homes and Migration to Remote Amenity-Rich Areas," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 42(01), pages 1-14.
    21. Krzysztofik Robert & Dymitrow Mirek & Biegańska Jadwiga & Senetra Adam & Gavriilidou Eleftheria & Nadolu Bogdan & Kantor-Pietraga Iwona & Grzelak-Kostulska Elżbieta & Oureilidou Eleni & Luches Daniel , 2017. "Landscapes with different logics: A physicalistic approach to semantic conflicts in spatial planning," Quaestiones Geographicae, Sciendo, vol. 36(4), pages 29-45, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2021:i:1:p:84-:d:708672. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.