Regional Research Frontiers- Vol. 1 Innovations, Regional Growth and Migration

Abstract

The idea for this book emerged as we prepared the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Regional Research Institute (RRI) at West Virginia University in 2016. The Institute was founded in 1965, and the personalities who helped shape it include founding directorWilliamMiernyk, AndrewIsserman, Luc Anselin, Scott Loveridge, and Randall Jackson. The Institute reflected the research focus and personalities of each of these directors, flavored by the diversity of personalities and scholarship of others with RRI ties. Yet throughout its history, the primary mission remained: engaging in and promoting regional economic development research, with a special emphasis on lagging and distressed regions. RRI scholars have come from economics, geography, agricultural and resource economics, urban and regional planning, history, law, engineering, recreation and tourism studies, extension, etc. Over the half century of RRI’s existence, regional research has grown and developed dramatically, with members of the Institute contributing to scholarship and leadership in the profession. Reflecting on the history of the RRI made us wonder about the next 50 years of regional research, so we decided to ask colleagues in our field to share their thoughts about issues, theories, and methods that would shape and define future regional research directions. Many responded to our call for contributions, and in the end we accepted 37 chapters, covering many aspects of regional research. Although the chapters are diverse, several share commonideas and interests, sowe have grouped them into seven parts.Aswith most groupings, of course, there are chapterswhose contentwould have been appropriate in more than one part