Regional Ambassadors – An Innovative Element for the Development of Rural Areas?

Harfst Jörn (), Pichler Patrick and Fischer Wolfgang ()
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Harfst Jörn: Department of Geography and Regional Sciences, University of Graz, Heinrichstraße 36, A-8010 Graz, Austria
Pichler Patrick: Department of Geography and Regional Sciences, University of Graz, Heinrichstraße 36, A-8010 Graz, Austria
Fischer Wolfgang: Department of Geography and Regional Sciences, University of Graz, Heinrichstraße 36, A-8010 Graz, Austria

European Countryside, 2017, vol. 9, issue 2, 359-374

Abstract: Rural regions in Austria have been under increasing pressure for change in the last decades. On a regional level, varying development patterns of shrinkage and growth arise alongside economic, demographic and social parameters. In this paper, regional ambassador concepts will be explicated as a new instrument of regional development. Additionally, potential positive impacts of these approaches on the problems faced by rural, structurally weak regions will be highlighted. Notable advantages of these approaches are network and feedback effects between stakeholders. These, in turn, are capable of improving the economic and social situation in those regions. However, these measures require a high degree of control capacities which structurally weak areas often lack.

Keywords: Regional development; regional ambassadors; regional networks; governance; structural change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vrs:eurcou:v:9:y:2017:i:2:p:359-374:n:9

DOI: 10.1515/euco-2017-0022

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