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Many articles in this and other journals over the last decade have considered such topics as flexible specialization, resurgent regions, world cities, co-operative competition and social capital. In this edition of Debates and Surveys , Ann Markusen argues that much of this recent regional analysis has increasingly retreated into a mode of discourse in which concepts lack substantive clarity. She also suggests that such fuzzy conceptualization makes it difficult for students and practitioners to operationalize and/or to subject this body of work to scrutiny by applying real world evidence. Descriptive characterizations of 'processes' are believed to have replaced the application of behavioural and structural causality, compounding these conceptual problems. With methodologies underdeveloped, the case study or anecdote approach to analysis is often used to illustrate theoretical contentions, while the results of more comprehensive tests and instances which do not uphold the theory are frequently ignored. Comparing with some of the classic texts which addressed the problems of regions and so were located in a concern with real world policy and political engagement, the article contends that these recent tendencies are symptomatic of a body of scholarship that is increasingly abstract. To illustrate the argument, the paper reviews three core areas of work; flexible specialization and its re-agglomeration hypothesis; world cities; and 'cooperative competition' in industrial districts à la Silicon Valley. Ann Markusen makes a claim for an adherence to social science norms of conceptual coherence, causal theory (with both behavioural and structural components) and subjection of theory to the rigours of evidence, where the latter may encompass qualitative as well as quantitative techniques. Greater commitment to entering the policy debate and to making results accessible and informative to real world political activists and planners, it is argued, would substantially strengthen this body of research and its usefulness. This is obviously a provocative piece which we hope will spark off a debate on the definition and application of fuzzy concepts in regional analysis. Comments and replies are welcome.

As advances in transportation and information obliterate distance, cities and regions face a tougher time anchoring income-generating activities. In probing the conditions under which some manage to remain \"sticky\" places in \"slippery\" space, this paper rejects the \"new industrial district,\" in either its Marshallian or more recent Italianate form, as the dominant paradigmatic solution. I identify three additional types of industrial districts, with quite disparate firm configurations, internal versus external orientations, and governance structures: a hub-and-spoke industrial district, revolving around one or more dominant, externally oriented firms; a satellite platform, an assemblage of unconnected branch plants embedded in external organization links; and the state-anchored district, focused on one or more public-sector institutions. The strengths and weaknesses of each are reviewed. The hub-and-spoke and satellite platform variants are argued to be more prominent in the United States than the other two. The findings suggest that the study of industrial districts requires a broader institutional approach and must encompass embeddedness across district boundaries. The research results suggest that a purely locally targeted development strategy will fail to achieve its goals.

This article analyzes why and how economic and community development planners might target occupations as well as industries in shaping an economic development strategy. Key occupations can be identified on the basis of captura-bility, high relative employment growth rates, connectivity across industries, fit with underemployed workforce groups, and potential for entrepreneurship. I demonstrate the potential for targeting occupations with quantitative and qualitative evidence on performing arts occupations for a set of medium-sized metropolitan areas and make the case for occupational location and development theories analogous to those for industry. I close by outlining steps planners can follow to incorporate occupational targeting into their work.

Export base theory, which posits that overall regional growth is a function of external sales of locally produced goods and services, dominates economic development practice. But the consumption base can also serve as a growth driver, especially in small towns and rural areas. Local investments may induce residents to divert expenditures into local purchases, attract new and footloose residents and tourists, and revitalize aging town centers. A consumption base approach is not reducible to import substitution, but seeks to serve latent demand and alter the broad portfolio of goods and services purchased locally. I present the analytics for a consumption base theory and demonstrate how cultural investments prompt regional growth, emphasizing the role of artists as catalysts. Three types of arts and cultural investments are explored: artists’ centers, artists’ live/work spaces, and performing arts facilities, with examples from rural and small town settings. I conclude with rural cultural strategy recommendations.

Over the past two decades, urban and regional policy-makers have increasingly looked to the arts and culture as an economic panacea, especially for the older urban core. The arts' regional economic contribution is generally measured by totalling the revenue of larger arts organisations, associated expenditures by patrons and multiplier effects. This approach underestimates the contributions of creative artists to a regional economy, because of high rates of self-employment and direct export activity, because artists' work enhances the design, production and marketing of products and services in other sectors and because artists induce innovation on the part of suppliers. Artists create import-substituting entertainment options for regional consumers and spend large shares of their own incomes on local arts output. The paper takes a labour-centred view of the arts economy, hypothesising that many artists choose a locale in which to work, often without regard to particular employers but in response to a nurturing artistic and patron community, amenities and affordable cost of living. Because evidence on such economic impacts and location calculus is impossible to document directly, the distribution of artists across the largest US metropolitan areas is used as a proxy, using data from the PUMS for 1980, 1990 and 2000. It is found that artists sort themselves out among American cities in irregular fashion, not closely related to either size or growth rates. The paper further explores variations in the definition of artist, the relationship between artistic occupation and industry, and differentials in artists' self-employment rates and earnings across cities. It is concluded that artists comprise a relatively footloose group that can serve as a target of regional and local economic development policy; the components of such a policy are outlined.

With accelerated world market integration, cities compete with each other cities as sites of production and consumption, targeting firms and households as semi-autonomous location decision-makers. Distinction may be sought in productive structure, consumption and identity. In this paper, contradictory trends towards homogenisation and distinctiveness are theorised. Studying the occupational structure of 50 large US metropolitan areas, it is found that distinctiveness has been increasing in economic base occupations though some heavily blue-collar cities' edge is eroding. Employment in consumption activities has been growing faster than in the economic base and cities are becoming more alike in consumption structure. It is concluded that the search for niches in exporting sectors and related occupational mix is key to urban resurgence.

This impressive book tracks the progress of twelve countries on five continents in moving resources from defense to civilian activity in the 1990's. Based on intensive field research, thanks to its truly international array of contributors, the book addresses each country with an impressive standard of scholarship. This accessible book is written in non-technical language and will be of great use and interest to academics involved with defense economics, defense studies and development studies. It will also prove popular with international development organizations, the defense industry and policy-makers around the world. Ann Markusen is an economist, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and Director of the Project on Regional and Industrial Economics at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, USA. Sean DiGiovanna is Assistant Professor in Urban Studies at Rutgers University, USA. Michael C. Leary is at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, USA.

In this note, I address two frontiers where we, as regional scientists, can raise the visibility and impact of regional science and enlarge the community of scholars in our fold. The first is the resurgence of regionalism as a phenomenon and policy arena. My argument here is that many politicians, practitioners and citizens are actively debating the health and future of metropolitan regions, but we are not playing the intellectual role that we could be. The second frontier involves expanding the interdisciplinary reach of regional science towards the ''softer'' social and policy sciences, especially in the direction of sociology, political science, and city and regional planning. My argument here is that our tools of analysis, especially our understanding of agents and institutions, would be more powerful if amplified by selected contributions from neighboring fields.

Facing excess capacity and changing demographics, theatres are struggling to maintain audiences, while their marketing and outreach strategies often fail. Our participation studies reveal that theater-goers increasingly value venues, not just performances, challenging owners and directors to curate settings as part of their offerings. People also seek active engagement in artistic creation and expression, even co-curating. But productions remain closely tied to Euro-American fine-arts conventions, rarely reflecting working-class, racial, ethnic, and youth cultures. Recent decisions to build or renovate large performing arts venues in the us and õê have taken these new sensibilities into account in a variety of ways. Enfrentando \"muitos lugares vazios\" e uma demografia em transformação, os teatros lutam para preservar os seus públicos, embora as suas estratégias de marketing e captação de audiências falhem frequentemente. Os nossos estudos sobre participação revelam que os espetadores de teatro valorizam crescentemente as salas de espetáculo, e não apenas as performances, desafiando os proprietários e diretores a adotar urna atitude curatorial relativamente aos espaços de apresentação, tornando-os parte da sua oferta. Os espetadores procuram também um envolvimento ativo na criação e expressão artísticas, inclusive na co-curadoria. No entanto, as produções teatrais permanecem profundamente ligadas às convenções artísticas euro-americanas, fazendo raramente eco das classes trabalhadoras, das culturas raciais, étnicas e da juventude. As mais recentes decisões relativas à construção ou renovação de grandes salas de espetáculo dedicadas às artes performativas nos Estados Unidos e no Reino Unido têm levado em conta estas novas sensibilidades de diversas maneiras.