Economic development planners seek to enable communities, larger regions, and states gain and
sustain long-term economic health and well-being. Within the context of rapid changes in technology
and the inexorable trend toward economic globalization, areas that will have the capacity to spawn,
grow, or attract innovative and efficient enterprises will be those that will thrive in the twenty-first century.
By strategically using a variety of interventions and programs, economic development planners can
improve the mix of jobs and industries, increase the productivity and competitiveness of existing
establishments, increase entrepreneurial activity, better match employer skill needs with the supply
of skills of the resident workforce, and enhance the sustainable economic development capacity of
cities and regions.

The scale and scope of economic development planning varies from the sketching, feasibility analysis,
implementation, and evaluation of site-specific projects, to the visioning, articulation, and programming
of regional development goals, policies, and strategies.  The primary objective of the economic
development focus area is to provide students with the knowledge and know-how needed to perform
at the cutting edge of economic development practice in this rapidly changing field.  We also emphasize
providing a solid conceptual and methodological foundation of how and why the economies of communities
and regions change.


Career Opportunities
Graduates are employed by local and state economic development agencies, community development
corporations (CDCs) and other nonprofit community-based organizations, quasi-public economic
development corporations and authorities, public utility corporation, private businesses engaged in
development finance, and private economic and planning consulting firms.  A number of our alumni have
risen to high, senior positions in both public and private economic development organizations and
non-profit agencies.

NEURUS exchange program
NEURUS is an international consortium of universities dedicated to the collaborative study of urban
and regional development issues.  The origin of the acronym NEURUS derives from the consortium's
original title when first established in 1998: the Network for European and U.S. Regional and Urban Studies
consisted of six universities, three in Europe and three in the United States.  Today, the ten university
NEURUS consortium is continuing to explore partnerships with universities and colleagues elsewhere in
North America, Asia, and Latin America.

NEURUS is based on a concept of research and education befitting an age of growing territorial integration
and heightened global interchange.   Dr. Goldstein also serves as DCRP's director of the Economic
Development specialization and is the U.S. coordinator for NEURUS.