This research produces alternative understandings of regional economies in order to facilitate innovative forms of economic development, policy, and activism. Specific aims are: (1) to document the conventional notions of economy that drive economic and social policy in regions, and (2) to unearth alternative possibilities emerging from ordinary economic actors who are involved in a variety of "nontraditional" or undervalued economic activities. The project will use popular economic experience to call into question dominant ideas of economic development and to suggest alternative and more diverse development paths that government and communities might pursue. Two well-recognized regions have been selected for study: "the Valley," or Hampshire and Franklin Counties in Massachusetts, and the Holyoke/Springfield region in Hampden County, Massachusetts. For these regions, the project will produce a genealogy of regional economic identity showing the ways that conventional concepts of economy and development have shaped and constrained regional development initiatives over the past 20 years. In addition, a community economic audit will be undertaken that takes into account unpaid labor, nonmarket transactions and noncapitalist enterprises (such as self-employment and worker collectives) in order to yield a fuller but less conventional representation of the regional economy. Case studies of alternative economic practices and organizations will be conducted in order to document their linkages and contributions to the economy of the region, and finally, focus groups and community conferencing will be utilized to highlight the contributions of marginalized economic actors to the regional economy. The overarching goal is to produce new development discourses and a range of policy options to inform the efforts of regional governance bodies and activists.
