Why and When Development Policy Should Be Place-Based

This chapter argues that “spatially blind” policies are rarely spatially neutral, because they typically end up as capital-city promotion policies. Ostensibly, this reflects the economics of agglomeration, but to a great extent it is a product of the national rent-capturing influence of capital-city elites in all areas of public life. Since the evidence suggests that many core urban centres will grow without the need for significant policy interventions, the chapter raises the question as to whether development objectives should be shifted from promoting efficiency in the core to enhancing the potential for growth and development in every territory. The chapter argues that place-based approaches offer a greater possibility of harnessing untapped potential in all regions in a co-ordinated and systematic way.