This book analyses an increasingly important phenomenon in contemporary regional development, namely ‘traveling expertise“ and policy ideas.

Drawing on the fields of urban and regional development, and informed by the emerging school of governmentality studies, it offers a theoretically and empirically original exploration of this subject, and of the linkages between local and global contexts and their interplay more broadly. Symbolically denoting the traveling expertise as ‘hired guns’, the book explores different segments of the political sphere, from policy consultants and the creative class, to the polity apparatuses in which policies are recalibrated. The book presents a unique assessment of how this external expertise impacts on regional development in terms of power, politics and governance.

Traveling Expertise and Regional Development will be a valuable resource for scholars, policymakers and advanced students interested in regional development, public management and public policy.