Spatial analysis and economic development

Abstract

The traditional domain of economic development studies has been virtually engulfed by the contemporary focus on the problems of the developing nations of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The base of discussion has shifted from the process of development to the location of underdevelopment. This has led to a flood of development literature from the discipline of geography, planning, and regional economies. Space and location have become the new rallying points for theories and strategies of economic development. But two decades of such strategies, of which the last was fully commanded by the spatial specialist - the planners and the regional economists - have obviously not produced an acceleration of development in the Third world.