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The behavioural foundations of urban and regional development: culture, psychology and agency

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  • Robert Huggins
  • Piers Thompson

Abstract

Urban and regional development theory is largely rooted in explanations based on the location, agglomeration and organisation of firms, industries and capital. Contemporary economic geography theory, however, is moving towards a (re)turn to addressing the role of human behaviour in determining urban and regional development outcomes. This article focuses on the concepts of culture, personality psychology and agency in order to understand how these behavioural factors interact and result in development differentials across cities and regions. It is proposed that psychocultural behavioural patterns provide a basis for understanding the type and nature of human agency within cities and regions. Furthermore, it is argued that such agency is based on a rationality that is spatially bounded, and intrinsically linked to the nature, source and evolution of institutions and power. It is concluded that the integration of human behavioural aspects into urban and regional development theory offers significant potential for exploring and explaining long-term evolutionary patterns of development.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Huggins & Piers Thompson, 2019. "The behavioural foundations of urban and regional development: culture, psychology and agency," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 121-146.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jecgeo:v:19:y:2019:i:1:p:121-146.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jeg/lbx040
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    Cited by:

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    2. Maximilian Benner, 2021. "System-level agency and its many shades: How to shape the system for path development?," PEGIS geo-disc-2021_10, Institute for Economic Geography and GIScience, Department of Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    3. Obschonka, Martin & Lee, Neil & Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Eichstaedt, johannes Christopher & Ebert, Tobias, 2018. "Big Data, artificial intelligence and the geography of entrepreneurship in the United States," OSF Preprints c62tn, Center for Open Science.
    4. Obschonka, Martin & Tavassoli, Sam & Rentfrow, P. Jason & Potter, Jeff & Gosling, Samuel D., 2023. "Innovation and inter-city knowledge spillovers: Social, geographical, and technological connectedness and psychological openness," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(8).
    5. Suwala, Lech, 2021. "Concepts of Space, Refiguration of Spaces, and Comparative Research: Perspectives from Economic Geography and Regional Economics," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 22(3).
    6. David, Lucinda, 2019. "How Term Limits Constrain the Emergence of Agency and Resilience," Papers in Innovation Studies 2019/4, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    7. Qian, Chen & Antonides, Gerrit & Heerink, Nico & Zhu, Xueqin & Ma, Xianlei, 2022. "An economic-psychological perspective on perceived land tenure security: Evidence from rural eastern China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    8. Robert Huggins & Piers Thompson, 2023. "Uneven development, competitiveness and behavioural economic geography: Addressing ‘levelling up’ policies from a human perspective," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(9), pages 2274-2294, December.
    9. Franziska Görmar, 2023. "Loss and change: Culture narratives in old industrial regions in East Germany," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(7), pages 1577-1595, September.
    10. Guo-Hua Cao & Jing Zhang, 2021. "Is a sustainable loop of economy and entrepreneurial ecosystem possible? a structural perspective," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 7002-7040, May.
    11. Tavassoli, Sam & Obschonka, Martin & Audretsch, David B., 2021. "Entrepreneurship in Cities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(7).
    12. Evgeny G. Animitsa & Natalya Yu. Vlasova & Yakov P. Silin, 2024. "Evolution of Ural cities at the turn of the 20th–21st centuries," Journal of New Economy, Ural State University of Economics, vol. 25(2), pages 45-68, July.
    13. Zhang, Liangliang & Huang, Shoujun, 2022. "Social capital and regional innovation efficiency: The moderating effect of governance quality," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 343-359.
    14. Fritsch, Michael & Obschonka, Martin & Wahl, Fabian & Wyrwich, Michael, 2020. "The deep imprint of Roman sandals: Evidence of long-lasting effects of Roman rule on personality, economic performance, and well-being in Germany," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 05-2020, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
    15. Fernando Bruna, 2022. "Happy Cultures? A Multilevel Model of Well-Being with Individual and Contextual Human Values," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 55-77, November.
    16. Robert Huggins & Michael Stuetzer & Martin Obschonka & Piers Thompson, 2021. "Historical industrialisation, path dependence and contemporary culture: the lasting imprint of economic heritage on local communities [Technology and the labour market]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 21(6), pages 841-867.
    17. Evren Yiğit & Akdoğan-Odabaş Ezgi, 2024. "Towards a comprehensive agency-based resilience approach: Myopia and hypermetropia in the Turkish wine industry," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 68(2), pages 81-95.
    18. Maximilian Benner, 2023. "Making spatial evolution work for all? A framework for inclusive path development," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 16(3), pages 445-462.
    19. Migheli, Matteo & D’ambrosio, Anna, 2022. "Regional Resilience through the Lenses of the Capability Approach," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 202209, University of Turin.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Urban development; regional development; behavioural geography; culture; agency; psychology;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

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