Objectif
The project will evaluate the impact of local economic development strategies as implemented in six urban regeneration areas in six countries (D, FR, I, NL, SE, UK) and it will analyse the conditions influencing the effectiveness of such strategies. Local economic development strategies aim at the integration of disadvantaged communities by means of generating employment and increased incomes, and the revival of the whole local economy in deprived urban areas. The project has built users into its design and planning and proposes "tandem"-solutions - that is the co-operation of a research partner and an associated local partner in each of the participating countries - to undertake the research.
The key hypotheses of the research are that local economic development strategies at the neighbourhood level create an "added value" that could not be realized with centrally devised policies at city and/or higher policy levels. It is further assumed that certain institutional and organisational characteristics, like an integrated and comprehensive approach and its kind of embeddedness into policy systems at higher levels, are of crucial importance to their effectiveness to create economic opportunities for the social integration of disadvantaged communities.
The research aims at:
- comparing the impact of local development strategies as employed in different European countries
- comparing the effectiveness of local development strategies in different local and national circumstances
- understanding better how different institutional and organisational structures and interrelationships condition the effectiveness of local economic development strategies
- identifying areas for improvement and defining appropriate policy solutions
- developing appropriate indicators for monitoring locally based economic regeneration approaches and comparative analysis in different European countries
The main results of the research will be:
- better insights into more and less effective institutional and organisational structures and interrelationships
- an indication on socio-economic benefits which could be expected from a specific level of expenditure on local economic development strategies
- a comparative model for monitoring indicators and benchmarks for local economic development strategies
The research project will last 27 months. There will be three workshops and two conferences. Eight reports will result from the project.