Abstract
This paper departs from the regional resilience concept - as part of a broad strand of literature on non-linear dynamic systems in a space-economy - and introduces the notion of prosilience to highlight the policy challenge of developing radically new and innovative strategies for regions in decline. The mining industry will be used as an illustrative case. The notion of phoenix regions is put forward to argue that an external disruption or shock in an established industrial sector in a region necessitates unconventional survival strategies oriented towards entirely new market demands and based on totally different product packages. Ansoff's model on product diversification in competitive markets forms an inspiration source for the Schumpeterian 'creative destruction' proposition advocated in this study. An illustrative case study is concisely described in the present paper, viz. the South-Limburg coal mining region in the Southern part of the Netherlands. Smart prosilience trajectories supported in particular by evidence-based decision support tools are sketched for such depressed regions, based on the so-called Pentagon intervention model. The paper is concluded with some general policy lessons for an intelligent transformation of regions in decline.
Highlights
This paper departs from the regional resilience concept – as part of a broad strand of literature on non-linear dynamic systems in a space-economy – and introduces the notion of prosilience to highlight the policy challenge of developing radically new and innovative strategies for regions in decline
Other seminal contributions to dynamic and life cycle trajectories in economics can be found in innovation theory, starting from Schumpeter (1942) with his core notion of ‘creative destruction’, and proceeding to modern contributions on the ‘economic fate’ of nations (Acemoglu and Robinson, 2012)
Regional science has definitely played an active role in the analysis of nonlinear, dynamic and complex systems
Summary
A phoenix is in the old Greek mythology a sign of hope. It is a bird which arises from the ashes and symbolizes a new future after a decline or catastrophe. We introduce here the complementary concept of ‘prosilience’ to articulate the need for innovative and creative development strategies that would prompt an economically healthy and sustainable future of a system in transition This prosilience approach is inspired by the phoenix phenomenon introduced in this paper. In the light of the above observations, the present paper introduces the concept of prosilience as an analytical departure for the study of regions in decline (as a result of external shocks, market forces or government interventions) It seeks to develop creative and innovative prospects for such problem regions by using the inherent traditional resource potential of the region concerned as a stepping stone for a radically new development trajectory based on an intelligent transformation with the help of knowledge-based high-tech strategies. The paper will be concluded with general policy guidelines and lessons
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