Providing a broad overview of the economics of land-use change, this book is a key contribution to contemporary land-use studies, highlighting the main methodological and public policy issues that will be central to future research.

Contents: New Perspectives on European Rurality and Entrepreneurship: Rural Europe and small firms: a strategic positioning and synthesis, Teresa de Noronha Vaz, Eleanor J. Morgan and Peter Nijkamp; Entrepreneurship in small enterprises and local development, Teresa de Noronha Vaz. Determinants of structural change in peripheral regions: accessibility, innovative milieu and the innovative activity of businesses in EU peripheral and lagging areas, Andrew Copus and Dimitris Skuras; Human capital as the critical factor for the development of Europe's rural peripheral areas, Lois Labrianidis; Agri-food districts: theory and evidence, Cristina Brasili and Roberto Fanfani; The embeddedness of small enterprises within the rural local economy of small and medium sized towns, Eveline S. van Leeuwen and Peter Nijkamp. New Strategies in Small Business Development: Organizational success factors in local agri-food industries, Gabriella Vindigni, Peter Nijkamp, Giuseppina Carrà and Iuri Peri; The implementation of information and communication technologies in SMEs, Martine Boutary and M-Christine Monnoyer; Break out strategies of ethnic entrepreneurs, Tÿzin Baycan Levent, Enno Masurel and Peter Nijkamp; Rural entrepreneurship: an innovation and marketing perspective, Anabela Dinis. Case Studies: The adoption of information and communication technologies among smaller food firms in rural areas of Greece, Elena Georgoudaki, Efthalia Dimara and Dimitris Skuras; The allocation of public support to small food firms in Belgium, Ireland and the UK, Tessa Avermaete, Jacques Viaene and Eleanor J. Morgan in co-operation with Eamonn Pitts, Nick Crawford, Denise Mahon and Xavier Gellynck; A medium term economic outlook for cyclical markets: a case study of Mexican pig farms, Myriam Villegas Sagarnaga, Rene Ochoa Ochoa, González José Salas, Edmundo Haro and Figueroa Guillermina García; Adopting innovations in agriculture: an exploratory analysis using discrete choice models, Shlomo Bekhor, Daniel Shefer and Mordechai Cohen; Assisting small and medium sized enterprises: innovation policies for rural areas, Federica Cisilino; Attitudes to territorial innovation processes in Raia central Ibérica, Felisberto Marques Reigado, Paulo Alexandre Neto and Maria Manuela dos Santos Natário; Index.