Local Economic Development for Small and Medium Sized Cities

Date: 2012

As part of an ongoing partnership with UN Habitat in providing expert support and advice for local economic development (LED) around the globe, EPI developed the following six tools for LED: (1) Services and Support – i3 Ideas, Impact, Implementation; (2) Situation Assessment: Assets, Economic Base and Trend Analysis (a practical guide to enable planners to harness best available information and conduct basic analysis to establish a fact-based context and framework); (3) Analysis of agglomeration economies and diseconomies (looking at the driving factors that affect agglomeration); (4) Benchmarking and best practices for strategy directions (outlining strategic planning principles to develop key sectors in order to best use cities’ asset bases); (5) Good Ideas – what’s working: why, when, where and how (providing insight and direction based on current projects in cities around the world); (6) Multiplier effects (examining how city governments can harness economic linkages to maximize benefits through multipliers in jobs, spending and earning).