Economic Development

Real-estate| Infrastructure |Education

Identifying Underperforming areas of the Southeastern Region has been a clear target cluster of the Southern Chamber. In an effort to develop a balanced and sustainable growth strategy for the Southeast, the Chamber will bring together two dozen scholars and economic development practitioners in March 2018 to explore new economic development strategies for the regions’ underperforming regions.

This research seminar, entitled “Impactful Strategies” for Regional Economic Development,” will gather people with a range of expertise and diversity of backgrounds, including those from declining, post-industrial regions, rural and frontier communities, and experts on state and federal economic development policy. Several years ago, the Southeastern Chamber released it 5 quarters of work organized around the idea that 13 Southeastern States of the nation’s population are the economic engines of the nation and the new competitive units in the global economy. These States will also be home to the majority of the growth in both population and jobs in the upcoming decade. As such, special attention to the specific infrastructure needs of these States, Cities and Counties, such as high-speed rail systems, is crucial to a region’s long term interests.

The primary goals of the March 2018 seminar will be to explore ways in which the southeastern region could pursue a balanced economic development and growth strategy and to articulate a coherent conception of this balanced approach. This includes a synthesis of different strategies, including economic development, landscape conservation, smart growth, and urban revitalization. Identifying Underperforming States to ground this conversation in real-world geography and make it less theoretical, the Chamber will identify cities within the 13 States that have underperformed national economic and population growth trends. The Southeastern Chamber has made introductions with economic development departments and councils in its headquartered State of South Carolina, and will start with projected industry impacts and trends there first.