Raising collective agency is key to successful place-based development approaches. Existing policy arrangements have, however, been criticised, suggesting a need to effectuate more collaborative modes of governance. This paper shall contribute to a better understanding of how public support can best be arranged to raise collective agency for a more collaborative mode of governance in rural areas. The paper elaborates on findings of empirical investigations conducted within the EU FP7 project DERREG. It will be shown that differences in effectuating more collaborative modes of governance can partly be ascribed to different political dynamics, economic and demographic situations as well as the presence of a shared sense of place. To raise collective agency effectively requires a joint reconsideration and restructuring of the division of roles and tasks, including those of public administration. This can be supported by facilitating joint reflexivity among development actors and giving room for collaborative leadership and operational flexibility within policy arrangements.

In various case studies across Europe the vital role of rural place leadership in enabling a place-based approach to local and regional development has been highlighted, although not always explicitly addressed as such. This paper aims to do so by reviewing the findings from a selection of earlier research projects within a framework of the role of rural leadership in place-based development. Building on the increasing body of literature on place leadership, the review reveals how place leadership in rural areas is performed by varied public, private and civic actors; is able to bridge vested stakes and make new connections; is supportive to joint learning and innovation and an increasing range of bottom-up grassroots initiatives. Effective rural place leadership initiates joint reflection and enforces a collaborative spirit resulting in an expanding spiral of new alliances and new (institutional) arrangements. This underpins the importance of rural place leadership in building collective agency and its capacity to better attune the institutional setting to the specificities of place and thus enhance place-based development.

Abstract:Regional learning and innovation is a key to promote more resilient, robust and inclusive rural areas. Current analytical frameworks focus on support for knowledge spill-over from academia to industry and sector-oriented learning. The high diversity of actors and activities contributing to rural regional development is thereby not addressed. In this paper, existing frameworks are revised to offer an integrated perspective on the support for rural regional learning. The revised framework is used to identify, map and analyse supportive arrangements and their operational interfaces. It also offers an analytical perspective for beneficiaries to evaluate the support received. The DERREG case study area Westerkwartier is used to illustrate the use of the revised framework and its relevance for empirical research. The revised framework can be used to compare supportive arrangements for learning across different rural regions.Keywords: rural regional learning, place-based development, supportive policies, joint learning and innovation, public-private arrangements, capacity building, regional reflexivity Samenvatting: Het samen leren en innoveren, waarbij alle belanghebbenden zoveel mogelijk worden betrokken, is een belangrijke sleutel naar veerkrachtige en robuuste plattelandsgebieden. Dit wordt onderkend en ondersteund vanuit beleid op diverse niveaus. Dit artikel geeft een integraal perspectief op het ondersteunen van het samen leren en innoveren in gebieden en biedt een raamwerk om te onderzoeken hoe die ondersteuning het beste kan worden gearrangeeerd. De aandacht richt zich vooral op interfaces die ondersteunend beleid, praktijkinitiatieven vanuit gebieden en ondersteuning vanuit kennisinstellingen met elkaar verbinden. In DERREG is op basis van dit raamwerk onderzoek gedaan naar bestaande arrangementen en goed werkende interfaces in zes gebieden in zes landen. De potentie van een integraal perspectief op regionaal leren wordt geillusteerd met voorlopige bevindingen uit een van de gebieden, het Westerkwartier.Trefwoorden: regionaal leren, plaatsgebonden ontwikkeling, steun voor ontwikkeling, samen leren en innoveren, publiek-private arrangementen, capaciteitsopbouw, regionale reflexiviteit

Place‐based approaches to rural development require the collaboration of public and private actors. Such collaboration may be stimulated through joint learning and innovation processes which are supported by various institutional arrangements. There is, however, reason to question the effectiveness of existing institutional arrangements. The learning rural area framework is introduced as a tool to map, analyse and evaluate the operational features of (institutional) arrangements supporting joint learning and innovation in rural areas. Its application is discussed with reference to the Westerkwartier in the Netherlands and other rural areas. It will be shown how the framework can serve as an interactive tool to enhance joint reflexivity, facilitate wider collaboration and help build collective agency. Its potential as a tool for designing and implementing more effective institutional arrangements, catalysing institutional reform and bringing about more collaborative modes of governance should be further explored.

To create sustainable rural areas, farming and non-farming stakeholders must learn to work together better. In this paper, the authors contribute to the discussion of innovation platforms as drivers of institutional change by taking a closer look at the group dynamics of emerging social bodies in innovation projects, focusing on the joint creation of institutions in the process of learning to work together. Three examples of institutional learning are discussed. The authors show that 'institutional voids' are important in facilitating institutional learning at multi-actor interfaces. They also show how different team roles, such as those of collaborative leaders and brokers, emerge and are assigned tasks, and how they can be identified. The paper concludes with reflections on the implications of the findings for innovation processes.