Local Development

Abstract

The article deals with territory and economic development, underlying the active role of territory in development process. The main aim of the article is to explain the causes for the progressive attention on local and bottom-up development experiences since the 1970s after the crisis of the Fordist model and to draw policy lessons from theoretical analysis. After a short analysis of the literature on local development models (i.e., industrial districts, endogenous development, and regional innovation systems), the article deals with the concept of ‘local productive system’, determined by a strict interaction between economy, society, and territory and with typologies of local development models. Local productive systems, through productive linkages and interaction among local actors, produce external economies and collective efficiency. Success stories of local development are based on the production of specific knowledge and resources, and on collective learning. The creation of dynamic competitive advantages is, then, the crucial factor for a sustainable local development which is the basis for the model of endogenous development. It is possible to argue that the ‘high road to development’, based on quality products and innovation, is the pathway for local and regional development. At the end of the article, policy lessons for backward regions are drawn.