WT31 – The polarization of development; regional development

Workshop Presentation

Can we let cities develop unrestrainedly? Do we have to allow economic activities to be established wherever they like? Do we have to leave it up to the markets to regulate the competition between different land uses? Do we have to accept seeing the countryside transformed by farming practices which make increasing use of chemical products that are more damaging to ecosystems? Does each area have to specialise in a particular activity or is a combination of activities desirable for a harmonious society? Is public policy capable of enabling the poorest regions to catch up economically and socially? Do special measures have be taken for certain special areas because of their ecological, social and economic fragility, such as mountain regions, or because competition in land use is intensifying, as it is in coastal areas? These are some of the questions that we are faced with and which are often found under the general heading of national and regional development.

Indeed, in addition to the polarisation between rich and poor resulting from current economic and technical development there is an equivalent polarisation between rich regions that are developing and poor regions that are fragmented. Rather than whole countries, it is regions and cities that develop. The modern, technological and globalised economy is an economy in which the cities that have privileged international information systems, that have all the necessary skills that allow complementary research, education, production and service activities to exist in them, enjoy a considerable comparative advantage.

Both in the European Union and in China, there are considerable disparities between regions that are pulling ahead and regions that are lagging behind. Regional policy, which aims to bring special resources into play to help the poorest regions make up for some of their backwardness is one of the policies referred to as structuring policies and it plays a major role in making new Members appreciate European integration. In China, the question of the disparity in the pace of development between coastal China and inland China has become one of the central political concerns.

The workshop will aim to review these dynamics and examine the relevance and effectiveness of the various regional development policies.