Regional Economy

Island Voices introduces us to the people and four small communities of Arnøya, an island off northern Norway. John C. Kennedy explores the islands’ changing economic, political, and cultural relationship with extraneous forces.

In Ethiopia, urban managers are faced with the mindboggling challenge to develop cities in the face of growing urban poverty. Rapid urbanisation stretches the demand for employment, infrastructure and services to a point where many opt for informal land, housing, employment and services. Can urban managers change the tide and transform cities into engines of growth?

How can economic development of tourism contribute to the preservation of qualities in rural areas? How can tourism innovations be generated? How can policy-makers effectively influence economic development? This book explores sense and non-sense of interactive approaches to rural tourism development. It confronts - often optimistic - theoretical ideas with practices in four regions in the Netherlands and France.

Norway, having transformed itself from one of the poorest countries of the world to one of the richest in a century, offers an amazing case study of development. Although a superficial assessment might attribute this to its natural resources of water, minerals and fish, it is clear from the experience of many other countries that these are far from being sufficient causes of increased wealth.