Adaptive Regions, Deliberative Power Spaces and the Sustainable Development Platform Method

Neo-liberal ideologies continue to pervade the regional sciences and Australian regional and economic development policy. But is neo-liberalism still our sharpest tool for creating adaptive regions in this post-globalised age of the ‘me’ individual? A paradigm shift is needed – one that takes us beyond neo-liberalism and social capitalism and towards a renewed social liberalism. Such a transformation, it is argued, would better suit emerging policy needs in an unstable world. In this paper, the Sustainable Development Platform Method’s (SDPM) institutional governance design, core processes and knowledge sharing phases are explored to reveal their capacities for organising power structures and relationships. Using the SDPM, regional development agents can create Deliberative Power Spaces where relational and structural power transparency is increased and subjected to social scrutiny and community interaction. Increased community ownership of power within regional development praxis can facilitate regional adaptability whilst fostering increased social responsibility and reembedded social economies.