Introduction

The Government and Sustainable Local Development Research Group is the result of the union of two previous research groups, the Sustainable Territorial Development Research Group coordinated by Dr. Joaquín Farinós Dasí and the Local Government Research Group and its principal investigator is Dr. Joaquín Martín Cubas.

The new research group addresses issues related to the study of territorial management at local or regional scales, including territorial development planning, public policy analysis, regional and European development policies and regional political geography; with the aim of promoting innovation in the processes of local government and management, thanks to the analysis and study of the structures of local public administrations, local government management and citizen participation.

Two issues are essential when it comes to understanding this group. On the one hand, sustainable development as a way for competitiveness. The elaboration of regional development plans serves to delimit the weaknesses and strengths of a territory and to outline the possible routes or strategic guidelines to be competitive regions. Also, to rescue certain special characteristics of some localities and their strengths to be the basis of a new local development. Likewise, it is key to attend to management and public, since the evaluation of local policies is necessary to propose new models, approaches and techniques that contribute to improve the functioning and management of local entities.
 
Thus, the areas of knowledge addressed include:
– Territorial Development Planning
– Analysis of Public Policies
– Regional Development Policies
– Regional Political Geography
– Political Science and Institutions
– Political life
– Political Sociology
– Public administration

The research group is attached to the Institute of Local Development of the University of Valencia (IIDL), a center for research and theoretical and practical specialization in the field of local development, in its broadest sense, made up of researchers from the Universitat Jaume I (UJI) and the Universitat de València, experts in the various themes covered by the concept of sustainable development, a framework for the implementation of local development policies and strategies.