Urban Municipalities Providing Leadership in Regional Economic Development: New Wine in Old Bottles? Old Wine in New Bottles? Just Stop Whining and Do It?!

MNL Urban Summit, St. John’s, March 1-2, 2013

Rob Greenwood, Ph.D.Executive Director, Harris Centre

Outline

• Strategy vs Structure• Moving forward• Your role?• Discussion

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Regional Development: Strategy vs. Structure

Strategies:• Infrastructure• Human resource development• Social Development / Healthy Communities• Investment attraction• Entrepreneurship / SMEs / Innovation• Creative Class / Place Making• Clusters / Learning Regions• Community/Regional Development: place

based; capacity building

Regional Development Strategies

• Place Making: an integrated approach – driven from the local / regional (?) level Identity, Civic Engagement, Public Space,

Amenities matter – a culture of planning? your identity / narrative: “insulates you

from selling out” “make a covenant with your place” build on what you value; discover it; be

true to it: what do you want to hug?!

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Regional Development Strategies:no “place” without economic drivers • You’ll have nothing to hug if you don’t have products or services to export (except as cottage country)

• There are products and services that can be successfully produced in our regions

• Labour market shortages = high productivity is job one

• Functional regions enable pooling of labour, business, markets, governance capacity

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Regional Development: Strategy vs. Structure

Structures:• Federal and Provincial governments:

departments / agencies• Municipal / County / Voluntary Regional

Collaboration• Industry Associations / Cluster

Organizations• Community / Regional “Third Sector”

organizations

Organizational Structures for Development:Political Power vs. Political Will

Political Power

Political Will

Regional

Provincial

Federal

Denzil Doyle

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Specialized Knowledgevs. Local Knowledge

Specialized Knowledge

Local Knowledge

Regional

Provincial

Federal

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Check list of Organizational Capacity forRegional Development

• Fiscal Resources• Human Resources

• Leadership• Skilled Staff• Community Participation

• Legal Authority• Local Democratic Accountability/Legitimacy• Geographic Area• Time

Moving Forward• Firms learn to manage transaction costs

what do you do by yourself? what to you “buy” from others? what do you partner on: strategic alliances, consortia,

long-term supply chain relationships?

• Are communities the same as firms? “urban” municipalities don’t match functional regions

(can’t do everything in house) you are partnering with neighbours now are there opportunities being missed that new partnering

“tools” would help with? esp. with changed landscape of gov’t. support

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Charters? Accords? Covenants?

• Remember the Viking Trail Tourism Accord?

• Inter-municipal joints councils, coalitions, joint service arrangements MNL surveys of shared services: lots! Fredericton Alberta: Brooks & County of Newell; Palliser

Economic Partnership

• Formalized: BC Regional Districts; Quebec MRCs (Municipal Regional Councils)

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Charters? Accords? Covenants?

• Confirm who is at the table• Clarify purpose; being deliberate• Establish operating principles• Not establishing a formal structure, but a

vehicle for collective action• Driven by the members (not by fed./prov.

government(s); they may help facilitate; sustainable without them)

• Build – more – trust• Commit: sign your name, for your community,

matters12

Priority Matrix: start with achieveable common needs

Impa

ct

High

Low

Ease of ImplementationHard Easy

Do you want to make history, while we still can?

• The demographic reality is looming; we have 15 years to work with

• We have major projects generating opportunities

• We are rich in resources, that can be managed sustainably

• We love this place• If our urban municipalities don’t show

leadership, it’s not going to happen14

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Can you do it?Will you do it?

If not you, who?