Space Based Approaches to Local Economic Development

Sometimes the most logical way to approach the problem of where to start in the process of developing a local economy is to examine the location or "space" which is under consideration, and any unique characteristics of that space. Many locations already have a "characterization" well known to all and well understood at least in its rough outlines, if not in its detail. At times these general characteristics and definitions of community are so dominating that they overshadow all other considerations. It is these sorts of communities, which are presented in this section.

The first of these "location types" to be considered is the "rural" area. It is a good example of "categorization" as a way of finding ideas to develop a local economy. It is a good example because it points up both the strengths and the weaknesses of this approach to the problem of where to begin. The strength of this approach, regardless of which location is under consideration , is that it gets one into the ball-park very quickly, and eliminates community "types" which do not fit, which saves time.

The major downfall of this sort of approach is that once a "type " has been located, one must be very careful not to read too much into ones own local situation from that described in the literature. Ideas that work in one place may very well not work in another, even though they are of the same "type" of community. Rural towns in the Maritimes, the Far North, interior BC, Alberta range-land, or South-Western Manitoba are all rural communities in rural regions, but vary immensely in their needs and local realities.

Even within the Westman region, we know that sub-areas, towns and villages have quite different characteristics. What might work in one area of the region might well not work in another located very near it.

With these qualifications in mind, we consider three of these types of area. The second of these areas is the ordinary neighborhood or "locality", such as a sub-section of a city: core, transitional, or suburb.

The third area considered is the Ghetto usually situated at the core of a city, although one author noted that Southern Mississippi is "one big ghetto". ()

Links to the sections, which consider these three areas, are listed below.

Space Based Approaches

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