Location, Regional Growth and Local Development Theories

The paper provides a survey of the rich number of theories and models developed by regional economics over the last fifty years. The paper moves from location theory, to regional growth and local development, up to the most recent local growth theories, giving emphasis to the role in which space is conceived in the different approaches, and showing how regional economics moves from “space” to “territory” when space is included as an economic resource and as an independent production factor, a generator of static and dynamic advantages for the firms situated within it.