How to Cope with Declining Small Urban Centres? - The Finnish Regional Centre Programme in perspective

2004

The severe depression which Finland suffered in the early 1990´s as well as the subsequent economic developments saw Finland faced not only with high unemployment and rising income disparities but also with deepening regional imbalance. As a handful of larger cities grew, many others either coped or declined altogether. In 2000 the Finnish government launched the Regional Centre Programme (RCP). Through the development of a regional network of different sized growth centres based on their particular strengths, expertise and specialization, the original purpose of the programme was not only to find new sources of economic growth but to find ways of spreading growth more evenly across region…

Policies and Strategies in Marginal Regions: Summary and Evaluations

2005