Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Planning For Regional Economic Development In Oregon: Finding A Place For Equity Issues In Regional Governance, John Provo

Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies Publications

While the state of Oregon is cited in the new regionalism literature for exemplary land use and environmental planning, this paper focuses on the treatment of equity issues. Implementation of a revised statewide regional economic development program is discussed, contrasting efforts in the metropolitan Portland area with rural southeast Oregon. Despite following very different planning and grant-making processes, both introduced equity issues concerned with ensuring access to the economy. In Portland this meant aspiring to connect economically distressed communities with a successful regional economy while in southeast Oregon a distressed region hoped to connect with the state's growing economy.