Regional Resilience

Abstract

The chapter focuses on the capacity of regions to learn from and adapt to challenging conditions. The theoretical perspective, which has guided the study combines earlier work on historical evolution and geographical location of regions. The empirical data is derived from three case studies set in Sweden, the United States and Canada. Among those, the Borås region in Sweden is the main case. The analysis shows that an increased capacity to adapt is the result of a combination of regional spirit and interacting actions of industry customization, mobilization of resources and public investments. The parallel evolution of these resources has contributed the most to the favourable results. Key messages of the study are the importance of undertaking multiple case studies and the role of knowledge networks which can initiate and coordinate the crucial development processes.