Regional & Place-Based Development
The capacity to develop the whole territory: the machinery that lifts lagging regions, spreads productive capability beyond the primary city and holds the national economy together spatially.
- Indicators
- 3
- Leaders
- 10placeholder ratings
- Like it
- 8capabilities
- Developments
- 6
What Regional & Place-Based Development is, and how it is measured
The capacity to develop the whole territory: the machinery that lifts lagging regions, spreads productive capability beyond the primary city and holds the national economy together spatially.
Indicators
- Regional GDP per capita dispersion
- Second-city output share
- Lagging-region convergence rate
The nations that lead in Regional & Place-Based Development
These ratings stand in until the capability is rated.
| # | Nation | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germany | AAA |
| 2 | United States | AA |
| 3 | India | AA |
| 4 | China | A |
| 5 | Singapore | A |
| 6 | Finland | A |
| 7 | Canada | BBB |
| 8 | United Kingdom | BBB |
| 9 | Norway | BB |
| 10 | Sweden | BB |
The capabilities most like Regional & Place-Based Development
Likeness, from 0 to 1, as the Atlas measures it.
How Regional & Place-Based Development came to be
- Governance
- Economy
Historical Developments
Oldest first1970s
UK policymakers made regional development a standing policy concern
Interest in lifting lagging regions, particularly on the political Left, dates from at least the 1970s in the United Kingdom. This long-running concern provided the intellectual background for the later creation of formal regional agencies.
1998
UK Parliament passed the Regional Development Agencies Act 1998, creating eight English RDAs
After Labour came to power in 1997, legislation established eight regional development agencies, formally created on 25 November 1998, one for each of England's NUTS level 1 regions. This gave England a dedicated institutional machinery for sub-national economic development. Comparable functions were exercised elsewhere in the UK by devolved and national bodies.
July 2000
UK government established a ninth RDA for London and enhanced agency powers
A London agency completed the coverage of England's regions, and the scope and powers of the RDAs were progressively extended in subsequent years. This marked the maturing of the regional tier of development administration.
Recent Developments
Most recent first2012
England's regional development agencies were abolished, leaving no directly funded replacement
The nine RDAs ceased to exist on 31 March 2012. Local enterprise partnerships initially received no central government funding and local councils got no equivalent income transfer while being asked to make savings, so the capability for place-based development was substantially weakened rather than transferred.
June 2010
UK coalition government announced abolition of the RDAs in its emergency budget
Citing deficit reduction, the government said the nine agencies would be replaced by local enterprise partnerships, smaller-scale bodies joining local authorities and businesses. This reversed a decade of regional-scale development machinery in favour of a more localised patchwork.
2009
PriceWaterhouseCoopers found RDAs returned £1 per £1 of public spending, rising to £4.50 long term
The accountancy study assessed the economic return of the regional agencies, estimating parity in immediate local economic impact with a projected £4.50 return once infrastructure investments matured. The evidence became part of the debate over whether the regional tier justified its roughly £2 billion annual budget.