Promoting prosperous coastal communities - Integrated community and business development in a regional perspective

The overriding question asked by this project is: Why have some coastal communities succeeded in developing prosperous communities while others struggle? We will study factors of importance to success: demography and economic development; local and region al collaboration; the importance of a coherent approach to community and business development; the role of local cultures, traditions and innovation, actors and interests, community reputation etc. We will use comparative case studies based on Mills metho d of agreement/difference?. Statistics from the Central Register of Enterprises and Establishments will form the basis of an analysis of adaptation and innovation in the retail and commercial sectors. The theoretical approach is eonomic/geographic theory. Historic migration data from Statistics Norway and NIBR joint database will provide information on permanent dwellers, in-migrants, returnees, their education levels etc. Analyses of natural and built environment will be informed by theories on relations between physical and social environments. Planning theory on governance by networking can explain actor interaction and community and business development as processes. Socio-cultural place analyses, based on the theory of social constructionism, can re veal information about actors and interests and their perceptions of the community. Qualitative interviews will provide understanding of actors converging/diverging interests. Surveys will throw light on the opinions of business executives regarding local culture, community image and reputation and their views on business growth potentials. We will select two successful communities and one struggling municipality. The first of the two successful municipalities is Lovund, (in- migration) while Vardø repres ents a struggling community (out-migration). We have some data on both of these municipalities already, though they have yet to be studied in a regional perspektive. The third case will be selected later.