Between continuity and change in local restructuring: Facilitating path creation in local development in Vennesla, Norway

Abstract

The article discusses an alternative restructuring process in Vennesla, a municipality in southern Norway. As part of the local discourse about the decline of workplaces in manufacturing industries and the threatened closure of a symbolic factory, municipal politicians and administration mobilized support and applied to the national government for funding for a restructuring project. The project failed to receive funding and an alternative restructuring process was launched, aiming to support the local capacity for collective action and learning to support restructuring. An action research project became central in the work of reorganizing local development. For the analyses, central concepts from evolutionary economic geography were adopted to address the role of ‘path dependency’ in regional development. The presented case is an example of how a development coalition, engaged in a learning process to create new paths for an industrial community, bridged the gap between continuity and change in the evolution of economic activity through a focus on action and reflection.

Keywords:

• collective action
• learning
• path creation
• restructuring

Notes

1. Source: Statistics Norway. Table: 01222: Population change (M), selected values (Vennesla, 2010K1) https://www.ssb.no/statistikkbanken/SelectTable/hovedtabellHjem.asp?KortNavnWeb=folkendrkv&CMSSubjectArea=befolkning&StatVariant=&PLanguage=1&checked=true (accessed October 2012).

2. All statistics in the paragraph were sourced from Statistics Norway: Table 07195: Enterprises except public administration, agriculture, forestry and fishing, by industry (SIC2007), legal form and number of employees (C), selected values. https://www.ssb.no/statistikkbanken/selectvarval/Define.asp?subjectcode=&ProductId=&MainTable=ForeAnsNy&nvl=&PLanguage=1&nyTmpVar=true&CMSSubjectArea=bedrifter-foretak-og-regnskap&KortNavnWeb=foretak&StatVariant=&checked=true (accessed October 2012).

3. Source: Statistics Norway. Table: 09030: Employed persons aged 15-74 years, by sex and region of residence (C), selected values. https://www.ssb.no/statistikkbanken/selectvarval/Define.asp?subjectcode=&ProductId=&MainTable=SysselBosted&nvl=&PLanguage=1&nyTmpVar=true&CMSSubjectArea=arbeid-og-lonn&KortNavnWeb=aku&StatVariant=&checked=true (accessed October 2012)

4. Offentlig journal for Vest-Agder fylkesskommune, 19 June 2002 – a publicly available journal at http://vaf.cloudapp.net (accessed October 20102).

5. Source: Statistics Norway. Table: 09651: Unemployed persons registered at the Employment Offices 15–74 years, by sex (M), selected values (Vennesla, Both sexes, 2011M12) https://www.ssb.no/statistikkbanken/selectvarval/Define.asp?subjectcode=&ProductId=&MainTable=ArbLedig05&nvl=&PLanguage=1&nyTmpVar=true&CMSSubjectArea=arbeid-og-lonn&KortNavnWeb=regledig&StatVariant=&checked=true (accessed October 2012).