Place, city, regional, rural leadership : A review

Abstract

The notion of place leadership with its many names has attracted increasing interest in scholarly communities. This chapter paints a picture of the spread and depth of contemporary place leadership studies. It presents the main results of a literature review that was undertook in January and February 2020. The research questions were: How has the study on place leadership evolved and, more specifically, what are the empirical contexts these studies focus on, what kind of methodologies have been exploited? Also, what are the main observations? The chapter adds to existing research on place leadership by providing the first systematic review of academic literature on leadership in its many territorial and spatial forms. The chapter concludes: (a) there is a need to develop substantially the theoretical and methodological basis for the study of place leadership; (b) comparative research designs involving case studies are an effective way of identifying the linkages between urban and regional growth and leadership; (c) research on place leadership is well positioned to inform policy makers and development practitioners at different levels on how to improve leadership capacity in, and for, a range of governance settings, leadership practices and capabilities.