No 2024/10 Municipalities’ role in regional development

Navigating subsidiarity, place-based approaches, and geographical variation.

Abstract

Even though place is associated with the local, place-based policy approaches target the regional level of government. Addressing this conundrum, this paper focuses on the local level studying municipalities’ regional development work in different types of regions in three Nordic countries. Through a comparative study across regional and national contexts, the paper identifies the need to clarify the strategies of municipalities in place-based approaches. The results explain the uneven capabilities and structural constraints of municipalities impacting the viability of the subsidiarity principle bringing policy design and implementation closer to citizens.