(06 May 2019) – On the occasion of the RSA annual conference, LDnet has published a background paper entitled “Local development: an opportunity to bridge the gap between research and practice”.
LDnet is organising a special session on 6 June 2019 at this year’s annual conference of the Regional Studies Association (RSA) in Santiago de Compostela on the topic of “Strengthening the impact of research on EU local development policies“.
Local development research requires cross-cutting, multi-disciplinary approaches bringing together regional economics, geography, sociology, political sciences and many other disciplines.
It is increasingly recognised that the results of local development and the value added of this approach are not easily analysed with the traditional quantitative methods. This could perhaps explain why local development as a research discipline remains underdeveloped, or even neglected.
How to provide strong evidence on the results of LEADER/CLLD, especially those less tangible ones, e.g. bringing Europe closer to citizens or strengthening social capital? How to measure its contribution to innovation or local governance? These are among the questions addressed in the document.