Introduction: the role of proximity relations in regional and territorial development processes

Abstract

Proximity analyses have nowadays turned out to be a part of the toolbox of regional scientists, and this notion has recently become very popular in the field of politics, and private or public stakeholders. Proximity is an argument for selling food or financial products, as well as a good slogan for local networks or social devices or even for policymakers.In parallel, the notion of proximity has spread in the academic literature and is now commonly used by scholars in regional science, geography and spatial economics. The use of the word proximity has increased and grown in importance, in particular for authors interested in the question of milieus, districts, distance analyses, or in recent advances in economic geography or evolutionary geography. Interest is now extending to works dedicated to innovation processes, links between science and industry, relations between users and producers or subcontractors, national systems of innovation, innovative milieus, and also local labour markets or urban policies. Indeed, the use of the concept of proximity, plural by nature through its spatial as well as non-spatial dimensions, is the key for overcoming the apparent opposition between the reaffirmation of the importance of the local and the death of distance and for escaping the sterile confinement in one or the other extreme positions.But despite the substantial literature on proximity processes and relations, only a few academic works have been devoted to studying the link between regional development and proximity relations. This book intends to fill this gap and to pave the way for future research in this field. We consider that the integration of the notion of proximity into the framework of regional development analysis provides interesting input due to its plasticity and ability to draw connections between spatial, economic and social dimensions; but also suggests ways of possible changes for regional and territorial policies. The main aim is to try to assess the importance of proximity relations (or obstacles led by proximity André Torre and Frédéric Wallet -9781781002889

Family business and regional development—A theoretical model of regional familiness

“…Proximity gains importance in the spatial context (Torre & Wallet, 2014); it refers to the state, quality, sense, or fact of being near or next in space, time, or relationship. The concept of proximity goes beyond the traditional interpretation of geographical closeness.…”

The analysis of proximity in the creative sector

“…Previous studies have shown that geographical proximity is a necessary but not sufficient prerequisite for innovative organisational relations (Broekel-Boschma [2012] researchers examined other factors that influence inter-organisational relations and the transfer of knowledge and innovation through these organisational channels (Benos-Karagiannis-Karkalakos [2015], Karlsson-Gråsjö [2014], Torre-Rallet [2005]). These soft, but difficult to measure factors, were defined as proximity dimensions that are associated with relational (Harun-Noor-Ramasamy [2019]) and/or virtual spaces (Torre-Wallet [2014]). The terminology used in describing physical spaces or spatial entities stays the same in the case of relational and virtual spaces (Ojala [2015], Drejer-Østergaard [2017]).…”

Using the Regional Advantage: French Agricultural Cooperatives’ Economic and Governance Tool

“…Social norms contribute to this organized proximity. This logic is not, however, limited to spoken forms of interaction (Torre and Wallet, ). This is close to the notion of social capital explained in Ostrom and Ahn ().…”

“…These relations contribute to creating, via a system of interactions, effects which structure their local environment (Kirat and Lung, ; Boschma, ). Torre and Wallet () distinguish three main meanings: the administrative region, the geographical dimension of development, and the local extended network. For these authors, territory is a ‘social construction’ combining economic interactions between actors, which generates dynamic territorial processes.…”

“…Already, by 2005, business subsidiary employees had become more numerous than those in cooperative headquarters (Agreste, ). As the notion of territory is multi‐dimensional (Torre and Wallet, ), it is important to examine the way in which it impacts cooperatives. We investigate to what extent territory contributes to ensuring the position of cooperatives in food chains, and how it encourages modifications in internal governance.…”