Institutional design for community economic development models: Issues of opportunity and capacity

Community economic development models (CEDM) have become the latest fashion in the field of regional development policy. However, CEDM means different things to different people, including institutional building at the community level, economic development in a specific geographical area, bottom‐up rather than top‐down development or the development of a community enterprise. This paper focuses on the most contentious aspect of this approach to regional development policy – capacity and opportunity – in order to draw some conclusions and recommendations about the viability of CEDM for regional communities. It draws on research literature from Canada and Australia to inform this debate.