Brian H. Roberts – författare

The second edition of this book represents a re-editing and in some cases signi- cant rewriting of the original book published in 2001. Substantial editing occurred and new material has been included in the introductory chapter and in Chap. 10, the concluding chapter. The reason for this was to bring forward to 2006 the ori- nal thesis of the book about the need for regions to be prepared to experience - creasingly greater shocks and to have increasingly less time to respond in adju- ing their economic development to achieve sustainability. Events that have occurred over the past five years - such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks, continuing the rapid advances in technology, the rise of sustained economic growth in China and beginning to unfold in India, the Indonesian Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina devas- tion in New Orleans, the invasion of Iraq and continued unrest in the Middle East represents on-going and unforeseen risks and new challenges which continue to confront and impact nations around the globe and the regions and localities within them. Regions need to be fast and flexible and agile in order to be not only expe- tiously adaptive to change, but also to be proactive in developing strategies to - dress and shape their futures. In addition, some significant new material has been added to the other chapters to reflect recent advances in thinking and approaches to regional economic dev- opment analysis and planning strategy.

The second edition of this book represents a re-editing and in some cases signi- cant rewriting of the original book published in 2001. Substantial editing occurred and new material has been included in the introductory chapter and in Chap. 10, the concluding chapter. The reason for this was to bring forward to 2006 the ori- nal thesis of the book about the need for regions to be prepared to experience - creasingly greater shocks and to have increasingly less time to respond in adju- ing their economic development to achieve sustainability. Events that have occurred over the past five years - such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks, continuing the rapid advances in technology, the rise of sustained economic growth in China and beginning to unfold in India, the Indonesian Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina devas- tion in New Orleans, the invasion of Iraq and continued unrest in the Middle East represents on-going and unforeseen risks and new challenges which continue to confront and impact nations around the globe and the regions and localities within them. Regions need to be fast and flexible and agile in order to be not only expe- tiously adaptive to change, but also to be proactive in developing strategies to - dress and shape their futures. In addition, some significant new material has been added to the other chapters to reflect recent advances in thinking and approaches to regional economic dev- opment analysis and planning strategy.

Regional economic development has attracted the interest of economists, geographers, planners and regional scientists for a long time. And, of course, it is a field that has developed a large practitioner cohort in government and business agencies from the national down to the state and local levels. In planning for cities and regions, both large and small, economic development issues now tend to be integrated into strategic planning processes. For at least the last 50 years, scholars from various disciplines have theorised about the nature of regional economic development, developing a range of models seeking to explain the process of regional economic development, and why it is that regions vary so much in their economic structure and performance and how these aspects of a region can change dramatically over time. Regional scientists in particular have developed a comprehensive tool-kit of methodologies to measure and monitor regional economic characteristics such as industry sectors, employment, income, value of production, investment, and the like, using both quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis, and focusing on both static and dynamic analysis. The ''father of regional science'', Walter lsard, was the first to put together a comprehensive volume on techniques of regional analysis (Isard 1960), and since then a huge literature has emerged, including the many titles in the series published by Springer in which this book is published.