Regional development, power and topological reach: to reach out or fold in?

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses the growing regional socio-economic disparity in Sweden and investigates two regions’ power relationship with the economically and politically dominant Stockholm region: one region with a negative economic trajectory and the other with a positive economic development over 25 years. The conceptual framework is based on the topography/topology nexus, using the key concepts of ‘reach out’ and ‘fold in’ in different resources. To enrich this framework, we incorporate two concepts in regional planning: ‘borrowed size’ and ‘agglomeration shadow’. The findings suggest that ‘reach out’ and ‘fold in’ explain why ‘borrowed size’ and ‘agglomeration shadow’ take place, or do not.

KEYWORDS:

• regional development strategies
• topography/topology nexus
• power relations
• left-behind places
• agglomeration shadow
• borrowed size

JEL:

• H76, O21, R11, R58

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.