Innovative milieux and new generations of regional policies

The main objective of regional policy is to reduce regional differences. The means by which this objective is reached have changed considerably. In this paper, four generations of regional policy are discussed. The first generation, dating back to the beginning of the sixties and a time of economic growth, was based on the principle of distribution. As of the end of the seventies, the environment began to change, with no growth left to distribute, but with territorial production systems to be restructured and reorganized. The issue of distribution gave way to the issue of creating specific territorial resources. From being of exogenous nature, regional policy became more endogenous. Thus, the policies of the second–generation were geared to promoting the endogenous development capacities of each region depending on each region's specific resources. With globalization, the opposition between endogenous and exogenous development policies became outdated. Third–generation policies presented a combination of endogenous and exogenous aspects aimed at creating comparative, environmental advantages. Lastly, and more recently, fourth–generation policies have made their appearance, revealing the need to stimulate, in medium–sized towns, the external manifestations of neighbourhood, variety and accessibility.