The ‘usual environment’ is a central concept in the UNWTO’s definition of tourism. Many countries apply rule-of-thumb distance measures to delineate its boundaries, which is rather problematic, because theoretically, the ‘usual environment’ consists of a selection of places, rather than one space with come concentric boundary. The concept becomes even more arduous in highly urbanized countries, as threshold distance values are hard to determine. Therefore, this paper will report on a exploratory analysis using various data sources. It leads to a more informed choice of spatial demarcation, although it is still inadequate in the light of theoretical considerations. Nevertheless, the approach should be of interest to those working in tourism and tourism statistics in particular.

As the network economy is continuing to develop, external economies are taking over internal economies and they are increasingly determining the entrepreneurial logic. To evaluate the territorial impact of this new logic a theoretical framework is developed based on a division of external economies between agglomeration economies that play a role in the economic functioning of urban areas and network economies that result from the networking among firms. The general picture of firms located in Flanders is one of intense networking within agglomerations, especially in their networking with suppliers, together with intense short and long distance relationships, where urban areas dominate the scene. A comparison between the urban networks introduced in spatial policy and the geography of firms’ networks, which has been investigated in this paper as the outcome of a large scale questionnaire, reveals that the nature of the firms’ networked territory can in fact not be translated in terms of urban networks but in terms of relationships between firms located in territories with dynamic industrial communities, and where cities, as a contextual place, play an important role.

Flanders is a densely populated, strongly urbanised region in Northwest Europe, but with still recognisable peri‐urban rural territories. These territories have a distinct economic profile that is far from being marginal, but which has a diminishing role for agriculturally related economic activities. From a regionally‐based economic approach, the authors argue that these rural areas act as flanking areas for the nearby urban areas, with mutual benefits. Therefore a model representing local economic development in these flanking rural territories can only be relevant if it takes into account this urban‐rural partnership, in respect to the territorial identity and cultural features of both these types of areas. The rural‐urban partnership should also be an important basis for a rural renewal policy. This policy will undoubtedly contain traditional rural elements stemming from traditional agricultural activities. However, it must also consider economic activities, in particular those of manufacturing and service industries in the countryside. It should also foster those characteristics of the rural environment which can play a decisive role in creating the new opportunities offered by the new localisation factors which are intrinsic to the rise of the new knowledge‐based economy.

Is there a shortage of new industrial sites in Flanders? This paper develops a method to evaluate the availability of industrial sites. The evaluation is based on the idea that a strategic should always be available in each sub-region in order to guarantee further economic development. The results indicate that the available area for industrial sites is clearly insufficient in large parts of Flanders. We also formulate several policy recommendations. The Flemish Govermnent has to take simultaneously structural and ad hoc measures. The structural measures should prevent that policy induced shortage of supply can pop up in the future. The ad hoc measures should speed up the supply in the next years.

Deze evaluatie van de ruimtebalans – of beter gezegd provinciale ruimtebalansen – is een ruimtelijk-economische evaluatie. Dit wil zeggen dat nagegaan wordt of de ‘ruimtebalans economie’ in het RSV voldoet aan een aantal economische objectieven. In het eerste hoofdstuk gaan we na wat ruimtebalansen betekenen in het RSV. De problemen met de basisgegevens worden ook in dit hoofdstuk uitgeklaard. Hoofdstuk 2 bespreekt de evaluatie van de provinciale ruimtebalansen zonder verdere detaillering naar pakketten of economische knooppunten (EK). Het derde hoofdstuk gaat na hoe de provinciale ruimtebalansen per pakket kunnen geevalueerd worden. Hoofdstuk 4 is wellicht het meest innovatieve deel van het rapport: we nemen in dit hoofdstuk het standpunt in van de ondernemer. We werken hiervoor vanuit een ‘zonale benadering’ die toelaat om ook analyses uit te voeren op subregionaal vlak. In dit hoofdstuk worden de probleemgebieden in kaart gebracht. Hoofdstuk 5 bestaat uit een reeks van beleidsvoorstellen

Actively engaging citizens is one of the main objectives behind the emergence of governance in the policy making process. The former top-down approach characterized by strong hierarchical relationships and a large distance between policy and citizens, is replaced by an approach that seeks important bottom-up (local) input. New partnerships between non-traditional and political actors are formed in the decision making process in order to engage citizens.Since the 1990s, the governance idea has gradually become a central focus of regional development policy. One of the driving forces behind this development is certainly the politically friendly nature of global-local theory. It provides local politicians with an external enemy (the global) and a solution (the mobilization of local actors in development coalitions). From this perspective, this paper analyses the developments in Europe and especially in Flanders, where sub-regional platforms act as development coalitions.The paper concludes that these platforms contribute to a governance structure that enables genuine public participation in policy making. At the same time, it offers a more sceptical assessment of the impact of development coalitions on economic processes. Territorial identification is a tangible outcome of the process, whilst the notion of localized knowledge spillovers is confined to academic speculation.

Today's corporate strategy is resulting in the creation of a network enterprise. As geographic space is integrated in this strategy, it is not only the network enterprise that functions in a polycentric way, but also space. Therefore, a networked territory exists as another reality alongside the existing socio-political entities. In a global/local perspective, recent models of local economic development emphasize the role of the 'local' in local economic development. These theories stress the importance of socio-cultural environment, institutions and networking in local economic development. Without denying the importance of these characteristics, it is clear that even perfect 'local' conditions are not infallible localization forces. just as globalization is not a kind of mystical force, neither are the forces of localization. To understand why, there are winners and losers, localization forces must be regarded from the point of view of existing or absent common local interests and the local capacity to organize them. They are not mystical but they have very much to do with relationships of power not only within, but - resulting rom the emergence of a networked territory, also outside the region. From this perspective the existence and the safeguarding of common local interests are not apparent. Local advocacy is therefore a necessity from the region's point of view.