Reconsidering Economic Development: The Prospects for Economic Gardening

Abstract

For decades many local development and community leaders have been questioning the effectiveness of business attraction to create new jobs and expand local economies. At the same time, there has been growing interest among some professional planners and citizen groups in the concept of sustainable development, which suggests replacing short-sighted development plans which convey limited benefits with future-thinking strategies that improve and preserve the quality of life for the entire community. And yet, many local governments continue to rely on business attraction as a key component of their economic development strategies. This paper attempts to explain why these governments are resistant to more progressive economic development strategies. It first examines how and why traditional strategies are ineffective. It then argues that, by contrast, the more recent "economic gardening" approach, which centers on the cultivation of local entrepreneurship, is more effective, particularly with regard to long-term sustainability issues. The paper concludes by discussing economic gardening's prospects of becoming the dominant approach to economic development, and the key role coordinating agencies play in helping communities build the capacity to meet this challenge.