Place Peripheral examines community and regional development in rural, island, and remote locales from a place-based approach. This is a timely edited collection, addressing themes that are receiving considerable attention in Canada and internationally as local communities, scholars, researchers and public policy analysts strive to better understand and apply place-based strategies in rural and remote regions. The volume and its contributors examine place-based economic development strategies, recognizing the broader and deeper significance, meanings, and attachments often associated with place and also interrogating such relationships as may exist between sense of place, cultural and social development, and environmental stewardship.

Kelly Vodden is a research professor with the Environmental Policy Institute and Associate Vice-President of Research and Graduate Studies at the Grenfell Campus of Memorial University. She has been engaged in the rural community and regional development research, policy, and practice across the country, particularly in Newfoundland and Labrador, for more than 25 years. She has published and led projects on topics ranging from rural regional governance and development models to climate change adaptation, rural drinking water systems, and labour force mobility, and has written and presented widely on these topics.

Kelly Vodden's profile page

Dr. Ryan Gibson is the Libro Professor in Regional Economic Development in the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development at the University of Guelph. Ryan's research and community engagement focus on rural and regional development, governance, philanthropy, and public policy. In 2015, Ryan was elected President of the Canadian Community Economic Development Network, a national organization committed to strengthening communities by creating economic opportunities that enhance social and environmental conditions.

Ryan Gibson's profile page

Godfrey Baldacchino is Canada Research Chair in Island Studies at the University of Prince Edward Island and executive editor of Island Studies Journal. He has authored and edited two dozen books and monographs, as well as more than 50 journal articles, many of which explore issues specific to island communities. His most recent book is Bridging Islands: The Impact of Fixed Links.

Godfrey Baldacchino's profile page

"an excellent volume that breaks open the development dialogue and encourages us to think about cultural assets in place-based development. Readers will be pleased to add this volume to their bookshelves...and put it’s ideas into work in research, policy, and practice.”

Greg Halseth, University of Northern British Columbia

“This is a key theme of this book: that peripheries are not inevitably destined to remain so, and even in this globalized and centralized world, they do have agency, and can change the lives of local people for the better.”

John Bryden, University of Aberdeen