Economic development shapes the context for almost every profession working in or around the UK public sector. But the field has always presented itself as a closed specialism — with its own language, its own institutions, its own professional community, and an unspoken assumption that if you don’t work within it, you don’t need to understand it.

That assumption is wrong, and its consequences are visible everywhere: planning decisions made without economic intelligence, property investments that misread place trajectory, university strategies that talk about civic engagement without understanding the economic development system they’re trying to engage with, skills provision designed in isolation from real labour market dynamics, policy programmes that repeat the same implementation failures, and community voices marginalised from economic decisions that affect them most directly.

The people who shape places need to understand economic development. Not at the level of professional specialisation, but at the level of genuine working knowledge — the kind that lets you engage credibly, challenge effectively, and contribute in ways that make a difference.

The Local & Regional Economic Development Handbook was written for exactly that purpose. Below you’ll find tailored guidance for each of the professional audiences the handbook serves — what’s most relevant to your work, which chapters to prioritise, and what you’ll be able to do differently once you’ve read it.