What happens when a country’s population and economic activity are concentrated in a small number of cities? From an economic standpoint, we are aware that this concentration can generally have a good effect on things like living standards, poverty rates, corporate learning, and relationships between employees and businesses.

But what happens to individuals who are trapped in underdeveloped areas with little opportunities? It becomes more challenging for them to access work and live well. Then, civil unrest frequently breaks out as the unhappiness grows.

A Territorial Development strategy is required when formulating public policy in order to guarantee that opportunities are available to all areas of a nation and to all of its residents. The importance of programmes that consider the interdependence between various sectors (for instance, matching investments in road paving with the location of schools) and the relationships between various governmental levels is highlighted by this application of differentiated policies to differentiated needs.

The first step in using this territorial method is to evaluate the development landscape along three important dimensions:

Scale, which shows that proximity is important since people and businesses frequently concentrate in a small number of locations.

Specialization, as the advantages of concentration can be spatially dispersed when regions are more connected and can either specialize in what they produce best or diversify and innovate.

Convergence occurs as a result of the ability to exploit spatial concentrations of people and businesses to raise living standards throughout the region by enhancing local conditions.