As globalisation progresses, continuing technological and economic structural change and the growing importance of the European level are modifying the underlying conditions for the work of those engaged in local economic policy. “Classical” tasks, such as providing industrial land, business retention, and locational marketing, are being joined by new tasks like cluster management, labour market and employment policy, support for special target groups, and preventive economic policy.

This article is part of: German Journal of Urban Studies Vol. 44 (2005)‚ No. 1: Local Economic Policy. Other articles include Cluster Management: Demands on Cities and Regional Networks, Local Labour Market and Employment Policy and the Role of Business Start-ups in Germany. A free English online-version is available.

The research was carried out to identify current trends and state of the art in local economic development policy in Germany and draws from a multitude of research carried out by the German Institute of Urban Affairs and other research institutions.

More and more is expected of those responsible for promoting local economic development while in many places financial and human resources have become scarce. Under these conditions it is all the more necessary to set priorities in function performance and to optimise the organisation of processes. In future, moreover, local authorities will no longer be able to cope with economic development promotion alone. Cooperating with other municipalities and other economic policy actors, fostering networks are becoming key strategies for maintaining and improving a city’s position in international competition for jobs and investment.

German Institute of Urban Affairs: Deutsches Institut für Urbanistik (Difu)
Beate Hollbach-Grömig, tel. +49 30 39001 293

01/11/2005

Holger Floeting, Beate Hollbach-Grömig

research

Urban Policy > Economy knowledge & employment > Urban economy

Business support, Competitiveness