Assignment Six (final project)

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modified: Thursday, November 30, 2017

FORMAT:

• The format for your final projects is flexible, and you are encouraged to adapt the format to work effectively with your overall writing strategy. Use the combination of text, tables, graphics, maps, etc. that effectively and concisely delivers your message.
• Either single-spaced or double-spaced is fine.
• Page length? Some of your projects may be more text-based, others more graphics or data-based, so there is not fixed length, but I envision final products to be circa 8-15 pages long.
• Be sure to cite all sources! text, ideas, data, methods, graphics, maps, etc. (Even if you are just borrowing an author’s ideas or organizational typology (e.g., “There are four types of economic development philosophies 1.  2.  3.   4.  “  etc., please still cite. Provide a bibliography/list of references at the end. If your sources are online, provide a complete citation AND a link.
• OPTIONAL: illustrate your discussion with a specific example (a city or region), perhaps (preferably?) NOT one you used in Assign 2-4, but instead a new city or region. (For example, for Option 2: apply different methodological approaches to a specific case, such as Ann Arbor or Chicago, etc.)

Select one of the three options below.

Option 1: HANDBOOK

Write a short handbook/guidebook that answers the question: "So, you want to research a local or regional economy. What guiding questions, data sources and strategies would you recommend?"

Flexible format (that could combine text, bullet points, graphics, internet links, bibliography, examples). The goal would be to create a document that would be a useful reference both for you and others.  (It could be something you might even post on the web or put in your portfolio.) Strive for the right balance between resource and intellectual content.

Option 2: Place, Firms (Sectors), People (Labor/Demography):

This course has used three different perspectives (i.e., units of analysis, or points of reference) to understand local and regional economies: place, people, firms.

• Summarize the theories and strategies behind each of the three approaches, including the specific methods and data sources.
• Discuss the strengths and weaknesses (insights and blind spots) of each.
• Select the one that you think is the most useful/powerful/insightful, and make a compelling case why.
• Does this trio of approaches leave out a fourth perspective? If so, elaborate.

Option 3: What's Missing? Introducing Three Other Approaches/Methods into the Economic Development Planner's Analytical Toolkit

We have focused on common local & regional economic development techniques: economic base, multiplier, LQs, shift-share, measures of high-tech, input-output, simple evaluation, and more descriptive use of both sectoral & occupational data. These approaches commonly appear in the academic and professional literature. But these techniques don’t go far enough to illuminate the crucial dynamics of local & regional economies, e.g., why are some economies more robust, resilient, successful and/or egalitarian than others? Your task:

• (1) select three methods (either mainstream or alternative ok) that we did NOT cover in class or else only at a basic level.
• (2) Provide a concise definition, elaboration, and illustrations of how these methods work and their contributions.
• (3) For each, propose a session (or several sessions) that could be added to the syllabus for a future iteration of this course (URP585), including specific themes, readings, case studies and/or assignments/exercises.