Place-based industrial policy

Policy Study

This policy study argues for an industrial strategy that balances national and supranational economic competitiveness and security while supporting democratic legitimacy and regional benefits. In doing so, we draw on four case studies to present a framework for reconciling industrial policy with a broader project of local renewal and placemaking. Such an approach will benefit many, pointing towards a distinctly European way of doing industrial strategy that serves local and international ends.

Industrial policy has re-emerged as a strategic instrument in the EU and the UK, initially for economic growth but increasingly for safeguarding democracy, security and resilience in an era of geopolitical turbulence. This shift reflects overlapping political imperatives: defending democracy against authoritarian threats; rebuilding strategic autonomy amid the collapse of the free trade order; accelerating decarbonisation; and addressing the regional inequalities, often caused by uneven industrial change historically, that fuel political disaffection.

In this context, we are animated by the central research question of how place-based industrial policy (PBIP) might be designed to align national strategic priorities with local economic renewal and placemaking. In this sense, we adopt a language of “placemaking” to highlight a set of policy interventions focused on improving living standards, local infrastructure and supporting community cohesion alongside increasing incomes at the local level. This feeds into a broader PBIP as an economic strategy that foregrounds macro-interventions in the socio-economic, cultural and institutional characteristics of regions and communities experiencing change.