Building Local Development Institutions in the Hinterland: A Regulationist Perspective from British Columbia, Canada

Abstract

This article examines the process of local development within the context of restructuring in hinterland British Columbia, Canada. The role of local development in the reconstruction of hinterland space is attracting considerable research attention, building upon an existing body of work from Canada and elsewhere, which is steadily refining our understanding of the local development process. Through a case study of two communities, this article seeks to enhance the theory–practice coordination of this work by using a regulation approach to examine the process, organizational structures and relationships inherent in local development. The communities in this study used local development both to pursue economic diversification and also to offset the uncertainty caused by economic and political restructuring. The findings illustrate that the case communities responded to restructuring in a systematic manner. This shows that the practice of local development may be related to theoretical interpretations of institution‐building. Regulation theory provides a framework within which to forge a link between the practical dimensions of the local development process and the concept of building local institutions. Specifically, the development of a local mode of social regulation is dependent upon the stability and coordination of a locally based development institution. Cet article examine le processus de développement local parallèlement à la restructuration de l’arrière‐pays en Colombie britannique (Canada). Le rôle du processus dans la reconstruction de cet espace soulève l’intérêt manifeste de chercheurs qui, ajoutéà un corpus de travaux émanant du Canada ou d’ailleurs, affine régulièrement notre appréhension du développement local. A partir d’une étude de cas portant sur deux communautés, l’article tente d’améliorer la coordination entre théorie et pratique de ce travail en utilisant la régulation comme démarche d’investigation des processus, structures organisationnelles et relations propres au développement local. Les communautés concernées se sont servies du développement local pour mener une diversification économique, tout en compensant l’incertitude née de la restructuration économique et politique. D’après les résultats, elles ont réagi de manière systématique à la restructuration, ce qui montre que l’on peut lier l’exercice du développement local à des interprétations théoriques de la création d’institutions. La théorie de la régulation offre le cadre oùétablir un lien entre les dimensions pratiques du processus et le concept de création d’institutions locales. Plus précisément, le développement d’un mode local de régulation sociale dépend de la stabilité et de la coordination d’une institution de développement basée localement.

The Struggle to Compete: From comparative to competitive advantage in Northern British Columbia

“…Such innovation not only grows from the density of local/regional interlinkages, but is further supported by a recursive commitment to learning and ongoing human capacity development (Florida, 1995;MacKinnon et al, 2002). Finally, a supportive institutional environment is critical for coordinating strategic intervention and advocating beyond jurisdictional boundaries The Struggle to Compete 25 (Amin 1999;Markey, 2005). Amin and Thrift (1994) refer to the concept of 'institutional thickness' to describe high levels of regional interaction with a commitment to being involved in a 'common project', thereby avoiding the consequences of negative competition and unleashing the development potential associated with collaborative governance.…”

Community-company relationships in forest-dependent communities in northern BC: Assessing the local, sectoral, and theoretical implications.

“…This reactive, ad hoc approach is not likely to be successful, as development requires longevity, focus, consistency, and stable funding (Clemenson, 1992;Markey, 2005;McTieman, 1999;Polese & Shearmur, 2002).…”

You want me to grow trees? The social implications of biomass crops on the resilience of Quesnel, British Columbia.

“…Many are finding that pursuing new resource extraction industries as replacements is neither effective nor a long-term solution. These communities are attempting to find locally-based solutions that take into account the needs of economic, social, and ecological systems (Markey, 2005). Whereas growth for many communities occurred due to plentiful, high-paying jobs (Halseth, 1999a), communities are now looking at the importance of amenities and ecological integrity as ways to attract residents (Green, 2001;Wong, 2001).…”

“…However, just as in panarchy, CED strategies are strongly affected by the linkages smaller community systems have with larger systems, such as the provincial and federal governments (Bruce, 1991). In BC communities are severely restrained in what they can do by senior levels o f government (Markey, 2005;Markey et al, 2007;Young and Mathews, 2007). In the previous section discussing the role of hierarchies in the panarchy model, inputs from larger systems to smaller systems ( 'remember' in figure 3.5) was said to stabilize smaller systems, slow the pace of change, and provide resources for the reorganization (a) phase.…”

“…This provided a great opportunity for communities to take some control over their own destinies and at least in theory, prevent higher levels o f government from pushing developments that are unwanted by communities (Broadway, 2001). Greater local control over decision making is a frequent recommendation in community development literature (DeFillipis, 1999;Epp, 2001;Markey, 2005;Halseth et al, 2006), yet even when communities are able to create a plan and make decisions about their future, the ability to implement their plans is often still held by senior levels o f government (Young and Matthews, 2007;Markey et al, 2008) In this case, the community of Quesnel developed a plan to attract a diversified and innovative bioproducts industry that they felt would address the three big problems facing the community -a declining fibre supply, looming oil shortages, and a homogenous economy. However, the provincial government controls 94% of the provincial land base and has not created tenures that would allow for the creation of a bioproducts industry as envisioned by the QCEDC.…”