Welcome to the web site for the upcoming Conference on the Strategic Management of Places. This Conference will bring together thought leaders on the policies that cities, regions, states and communities can pursue to improve their economic performance. In particular, the conference will focus on the strategic management of a place. A place can be a city, region, state, or even a greater geographic and political unit.

We are drawing on the experience and insights of highly accomplished leaders spanning a broad spectrum of disciplines in academia, a wide range of contexts in business, and diverse range of public policy leadership roles in a series of panels to identify what matters in shaping the economic performance of a place, why it matters, and how policy can influence those outcomes. Although they will not be presented at the Conference, a series of original background papers by leading scholars, thinkers and policy makers are available on this website.

David B. Audretsch
School of Public and Environmental Affairs