Place Based Economic Development with Simon White

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Place Matters

Simon White is a specialist in policy and programs for place-based economic development. This includes local economic and business development and reform of the local business environment, making more vibrant, livable, and prosperous local economies.

Local Economic Development

Local Economic Development

This article introduces the concept of local economic development. It answers the questions: What is local economic development? Why is local economic development relevant today? While the history of local economic development extends decades, the actions taken by local organisations and institutions have become even more relevant in the face

Placemaking for local economic development

Placemaking for local economic development

Placemaking is an important strategy for local economic development Download the PDF Version of this article here. I have a long history of involvement in placemaking, most recently as the former deputy chairperson of Leederville Connect in Western Australia. Of course, and as others have noted, ‘the business and practice

COVID-19 Response

Lessons to guide a local economic COVID recovery

In this post I describe a number of lessons we can draw from our COVID-19 response to help guide a local economic recovery. I look at responses that appear have worked and make four suggestions for placed-based responses. We are not past this crisis by any measure. But there are

Small business policies

Policy preferences for small businesses

Many governments around the world assign policy preferences for small businesses. These policy preferences support business development and job creation. There are two rationales for this. First, micro and small enterprises deserve special attention because of their overall contribution to national development. As a total sector, micro and small enterprises

Business innovation

Strengthening regional innovation systems

In early March 2018, the Western Australian Government launched its New Industries Fund to ‘support venture creation and accelerate business growth to diversify the Western Australian (WA) economy and create new jobs’. A part of this fund is allocated to regional communities. I have been commissioned to assist in working

How micro-businesses are changing the way we live and work

How micro-businesses are changing the way we live and work

Our working lives are changing. We might still be dominated by international corporates, but individually and in small groups we changing the way we live. Small businesses shape my daily life in more ways than I’ve previously realised. My morning coffee and lunch are purchased from local cafes. I

Photovoice: Street Life in Ivory Park

The recently released Participate report, Work With Us (see my previous post), contains a short case on an interesting photographic assignment that was conducted in Ivory Park, South Africa. Ivory Park is a large township in the City of Johannesburg. The landscape is densely settled, and the street is central