Networks and Regional Development


The 2nd Portuguese-Speaking Regional Science Conference will take place in Praia, Santiago Island, Cape Verde, from the 6th until the 11th July 2009. The meeting is also the 1st Cape Verde Congress of Regional Development, the 15th Congress of the Portuguese Association for Regional Development and the 3rd Congress of Nature Management and Conservation.

The initiative has the support of Piaget University of Cape Verde, in Praia, the organization of the Portuguese Association for Regional Development (APDR) and the collaboration of the Brazilian Regional Science Association (ABER) and the Regional Science Association International (RSAI).


Theme

The development of the regions depends on their territorial capital and on the networks and flows that are rooted in them. Networks and development is a seminal theme of regional science.

This is even more explicit in a country like Cape Verde where the factors tangible and intangible, public and private of the territorial capital are intrinsically linked to networks and flows of people, capital, knowledge, and goods that the geographical location and cultural strength of this country allows.

Indeed the four pillars of strategic development highlighted by the Government of Cape Verde meet quite well with the theme “networks and regional development”: the creation of a financial centre, the implementation of a centre to process and trade fish, the bet on quality tourism and the promotion of an international centre of communications.

On the other hand the Portuguese-speaking places are intrinsically linked to the experience of networks of culture and communication and the development of the regions to which they are connected.
This is even more important when Cape Verde is a unique node of the network of Portuguese - Speaking countries: a link between continents and a link between Portuguese language and its Creole creations.

It is in this territorial rooting of flows and networks that it also makes sense to establish links with the landscape and the environment, particularly in what concerns nature management and conservation, which is another way top say management of sustainable development at regional and local levels.


List of Parallel Sessions:

  1. Strategies for development
  2. Networks and regional development
  3. Urban and regional economics
  4. Culture and development
  5. Agriculture and rural development
  6. Regional and local governance
  7. African development
  8. Tourism and sustainability
  9. Inequality and regional finances
  10. Energy, water and regional sustainability
  11. Urban requalification
  12. Financial crisis and regional economies
  13. Management of coastal areas
  14. Management and conservation of nature
  15. Migration, poverty and development
  16. Peripheries and rural areas
  17. Landscape, biodiversity and society
  18. Operational models of regional systems

Bartolomeu Award

The Bartholomew Award is given to young scientist, under the age of 33, with regard to the 15th of July of each year, that present an individual paper at APDR Congress sessions. The Award is given by a jury consisting of the Director of the Portuguese Regional Studies Review and two more scientists nominated by him. The Award criteria’s are: conceptual coherence, relevance for regional studies and its impact on regional development.

ABERABER APDR ABER RSAI