This book is written primarily for a Scandinavian and European audience interested in regional policy and planning. Attention is placed on the transformation process in the Swedish economy and its implications for regional balances of socio-economic conditions and changes in spatial structures. Conditions in the United States, especially North Carolina, are used as a reference. The book is based on work originating within the framework of an international forum for exchange of ideas and co-operation between researchers, planners and practitioners, The Consortium for the Study of Perceived Planning Issues in Marginal Areas -PIMA. The group was established in 1989 and is interested in various aspects of marginal areas defined either in locational or developmental terms. Members of the core group represent universities in the United States, Sweden and Ireland. During recent years a subgroup within PIMA has focused attention on studies of areas located between urban centres and rural peripheries. These areas have been labelled Intermediate Socio-econornic Regions - ISER. Joint work between Sweden and North Carolina of a comparative nature has been conducted by the authors of this book and Professor Ole Gade and some of his students at Appalachian State University, North Carolina. This work has been published in proceedings from PIMA meetings (Planning Issues in Marginal Areas, Boone: Ole Gade, Vincent P. Miller Jr. and Lawrence M. Sommers, eds. 1991; Planning and Development of Marginal Areas, Galway: Micheal O'Cinneide and Seamus Grimes, eds.

Inhalt
1 Dissolution of the Socio-Economic Conformity.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 Objectives of the Study.- 1.3 Spatial Differences in Socio-Economic Development.- 1.4 The Quality of Life.- 2 Processes Reshaping the Spatial Structure.- 2.1 Introduction.- 2.2 From a Resource-Based to a Network-Based Economy.- 2.3 Quality of Life Improvements.- 2.4 Emerging Spatial Structures.- 2.5 Function and Quality of the ISER in Sweden.- 3 Patterns of Sectoral and Spatial Change.- 3.1 Internationalisation and Locality.- 3.2 Social Change and Preferences.- 3.3 Distribution of Income and Services.- 3.4 Focus on Intermediate Regions in the Swedish Geography.- 4 Spatial Dimensions of the Emerging Knowledge Society in Sweden.- 4.1 The Race for Increased Productivity.- 4.2 Characteristics of the Knowledge Society.- 4.3 Fragmentation Tendencies Among Swedish Local Labour Markets.- 4.4 Patterns of Restructuring Labour Market Areas.- 4.5 Migration Patterns.- 4.6 Conclusions on Mobility in Sweden.- 5 Regions and Cóntexts.- 5.1 Comparing Two Contexts.- 5.2 Socio-Economic Regions in Two Countries.- 5.3 Sweden in the European Union.- 6 Policy and Planning Perspectives.- 6.1 Introduction.- 6.2 Sweden 19301990: The Central Role of the Welfare State.- 6.3 The Intermediate Role of Municipal Planning.- 6.4 Approaching a Bottom-Up Planning Model.- 6.5 Alternative Planning Modes.- 6.6 Policy and Planning in the United States.- 6.7 Sweden in the First Half of the 1990s.- 7 Sweden Facing a New Micro- and Macroregional Fragmentation.- 7.1 Uniformity and Fragmentation.- 7.2 Four Carriers of Change.- 7.3 Strategic Issues.- References.- Author Index.