The debate on the MFF 2028-2024 has taken a step forward with the publication of the Council's Negotiating Box, drawn up and developed under the responsibility of the Presidency. Serafin Pazos-Vidal offers a critical look of the battlelines in the upcoming MFF negotiations. . MFF Negotiating Box – numbers on the table, fault lines exposed For the first time, the Negotiating Box comes with figures—and with it, a clearer sense of where the … Continue Reading
Future EU budget: regions and cities set out their key requests to reform Cohesion Policy
"Moreover, a minimum target of 20% of cohesion policy,rural areas and fisheries allocations must be spent for integrated territorial development strategies such as integrated territorial investments, community-led local development, LEADER or other territorial tools designed by Member States, in urban or rural areas, as a guarantee of a genuinely place-based approach that empowers local communities and stakeholders". The European Committee of … Continue Reading
Community entrepreneurship for local development
Toby Johnson Senior adviser on community economic development, AEIDL March 2012 Entrepreneurship means taking a risk, using one’s initiative, and it has a production element, involving the creation of a new product or service which is sold on the market. But you do not have to follow the ‘cowboy’ model of the entrepreneur, which implies […]
Council Conclusions Adopted Between 1993 and 1999
1993 At the Brussels summit on 10 and 11 December 1993, the heads of State and government endorsed the conclusions and recommendations of the White Paper. They included “‘developing employment in connection with meeting new requirements linked to the quality of life and protection of the environment”‘ in the list of measures to be undertaken […]
Challenges for Local Development in Italy
Fiscal consolidation and structural reform – Regional / local disparities – Fiscal decentralisation and fiscal consolidation measures – Regional / local development initiatives. Fiscal consolidation and structural reform According to the new economic governance in the European Union (EU), Italy prepared its 2011 Stability Programme (for the period 2011 – 2014) and its 2011 […]
LDnet at Open Days 2012
Workshop Title: Community-led local development as a European movement Workshop date / time / venue: Tuesday 09 October 2012 11:15 – 13:00 CoR, Van Maerlant, VMA3 Workshop description: This workshop aims to demonstrate the deep foundations on which CLLD can build in both urban and rural areas. It will show how different local approaches and […]
John M. Bryden: Local Development
John M. Bryden 2010 Local Development, ch 23 in “The Human Economy, A Citizen’s Guide”, Edited by K. Hart. J.L. Laville and A.D. Cattani, Polity Press, Cambridge, UK, 2010 Publication Type: book Length: pp 248-260 Abstract: The paper discusses the emergence of local development in two largely unrelated ways – opposition to growing state power […]
Robert Putnam: Social capital
Putnam, R.D., R. Leonardi and R.Y. Nanetti 1993 Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy Princeton University Press Length of book: 1-249 Abstract: Major impetus for the policy interest in social capital came from the publication of the work of Putnam et al (1993) on civic traditions in modern Italy. The concept of social […]
David Birch: The Job Generation Process
David Birch, 1979 The Job Generation Process Journal: MIT Program on Neighborhood and Regional Change vol 302 pp Abstract: This statistical report on the behavior of individual firms assesses how changes in employment and regional growth occur. A longitudinal file is developed for 5.6 million business establishments, used the Dun & Bradstreet Corporation data for […]
Launch of LDnet
The launch event of LDnet was successfully held on 1st February 2011 in Brussels with fifty participants from various organisations involved in local development, including officials from five directorates-general of the European Commission. After the keynote speech by Graham Meadows, former director-general of DG REGIO, there was a lively discussion on the current state of […]
The Local Development Ebook: Table of Contents
OVERVIEW LEARNING FROM THE PAST AND PRESENT Historical Review of LD Recent research studies LD Theoretical perspectives Lessons from LD in Practice Urban development and local development THE FUTURE OF LD: EU DEBATES LD in Ireland LD in Italy LD in Spain LD in France LD OUTSIDE THE EU LD in North America LD in […]
Local Development, LDnet and the Ebook: An Overview
The Local Development Ebook has many innovative aspects, ranging from its all-encompassing look at local development to its method of development and production: What we understand by “local development” and the “local development approach”? – The “European Model” – Working definition and scope of LD – LDnet and the aims of the e-book – The […]
Historical review of LD
This paper presents the emergence of local development in the 1980’s and its subsequent evolution, building on recent studies, especially the DG REGIO / ADETEF study of 2010: The 1980’s and 1990’s, the years of exploration, discovery of local endogenous potential and subsequent proliferaton of LD programmes – The 2000’s with sectoralised programmes and a […]
LD Recent Research Studies
This paper opens with an outline of key points from the ADETEF study , which in 2010 revisited local development and the local development approach, and brought together lessons from some 25 years of experience in Europe. It goes on to present several other studies which were subsequently completed and are of direct relevance to […]
Events & activities
Webinar on “Environmental Risks & Citizen Science” coming in November 2026
The European Local Development Network Association (LDnet) in collaboration with the CS4Change project, is happy to be co-hosting a webinar titled 'Local communities and using citizen science in risk management' in early November this year. The webinar will share recent and ongoing studies that combine … Continue Reading
International Conference – A territorial approach to the SDG
This conference will take place on 19 June 2026 in Porto (PT). It aims to promote reflection and debate on the best solutions and the main success factors for the territorialisation of the SDGs, contributing to the formulation of recommendations that accelerate their implementation at the local level. The … Continue Reading
ELIF Webinar: Right to Stay – Understanding the drivers of territorial cohesion
This webinar took place on 4 June 2026 with some 160 participants - see HERE Background information This ELIF Webinar, follows on from the high-level launch on 6 May 2026 by the European Commission of a public consultation on the "Right to Stay". The Commission intends to put forward a strategy on … Continue Reading
RUR_DYNAMIX 2026: International Conference on Rural Dynamics, Resilience and Innovation
This conference will take place on 27–28 November 2026 in Mosteiro de Ancede, Baião, Portugal. It is organised through a collaboration between academic institutions, research centres and local authorities committed to the sustainable development of rural territories. RUR_DYNAMIX 2026 brings together … Continue Reading
What do cities need?
The European Urban Initiative (EUI) has launched a forward-looking survey to gather insights from urban practitioners and policymakers across Europe. This survey, hosted on Portico, aims to identify key trends, challenges, knowledge gaps and support needs in European sustainable urban development. The … Continue Reading
Articles
IN-COMMONS – Commons-based approaches for the regenerative reuse of “invisibilised” spaces
During a recent LDnet WG “New Ideas” meeting, we had the opportunity to present and discuss the concept note of IN-COMMONS, a proposal currently under development for the Horizon Europe – New European Bauhaus call: “HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-BUSINESS-03 – Approaches to reuse vacant, obsolete or underutilised … Continue reading
Rural development: a call for a broader territorial cohesion agenda
The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) adopted an opinion on the Future of Rural Development after 2027 during a plenary session of on 6 May 2026. Led by rapporteur Radim Sršeň (CZ/EPP), mayor of Dolní Studénky, the opinion calls for rural development to be fully recognised as a core objective of … Continue reading
LEADER-CLLD post 2027: redefining the place of the EU in local development
AEIDL has published a new discussion paper, authored by Raquel Pastor Carretero and Serafin Pazos-Vidal from AEIDL’s Rural and Territorial Development team. The paper examines how the proposed 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) could redefine the future of LEADER and Community‑Led Local … Continue reading
Proposals for improving the draft regulations accompanying the next MMF
As discussed in the recent LDnet webinar on the way that the MFF proposals are likely to evolve in 2026, there several proposals that are currently being discussed focussed on specific amendments to the draft Regulations. . Some of the proposals are substantial. For instance, the recently published draft … Continue reading
Expert Voices – From community, for community
In the latest interview in the EXPERT VOICES series, Armelle Ledan, Social Innovation Expert and ELIF Thematic Coordinator, reflects on how EU policy and funding frameworks support, and often limit, Community-Led Social Innovation (CLSI) in practice. She highlights why community-led initiatives still … Continue reading
PUBLICATIONS
Policy briefs: Urban Interest Representation in the EU & Local and Regional governments representation in the EP
Two policy briefs were published in May 2026 on the EU-level advocacy of cities, authored by Dr Balázs Brucker, Research Fellow at ELTE CERS Institute for Regional Studies, Pécs (HU). The executive summaries of the briefs are presented below with links to the full documents. Urban Interest Representation in … Continue reading
Flexibility and Simplification in Cohesion Policy under the 2028-2034 MFF Proposals
This study for the REGI Committee of European Parliament assesses the main implications of the European Commission’s 2028-2034 proposals for the future design and implementation of Cohesion Policy, from the perspective of the European Parliament. It examines the likely effects of the proposed new framework … Continue reading
The new LEADER added value
The transnational LEADER cooperation project “OUR COMMON FUTURE”, involved LAGs from Austria, Luxembourg, Portugal, Bulgaria together with associated LAGs from Sweden, Finland, Italy, France, Spain, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia and Romania. Lead partner was the LEADER-forum Austria. The project set … Continue reading
Citizen science contributions to environmental risks assessment and management
Using Citizen Science with local communities to address environmental risk is an approach attracting considerable interest and is expected to be the subject of a webinar in the Autumn 2026. This publication, co-authored by LDnet members Joanna Storie and Ghieth Alkhateeb, is an example of the growing number … Continue reading
Study on Cohesion Policy territorial instruments
The European Policies Research Centre (EPRC) is highlighting the outputs from its recent study on Cohesion Policy territorial instruments implemented in 2014-20, including the final report of the study, instrument fiches and country fiches. The five types of territorial instruments covered by the study … Continue reading