Local Development, Proximities and Productive Encounters: The Case of Development Dynamics in the Region of Toulouse/Developpement Local, Proximites Et Rencontres Productives : Le Cas des Dynamiques de Developpement Dans la Region de Toulouse‪.‬

Abstract The first part of this contribution underlines the necessity of proposing a "dynamic" definition of what a territory is, and suggests characterising territory as an "active" combination of different dimensions of proximity. This analysis leads us to identify three modes of territorial development (agglomeration, specialisation, specification) and to attempt a configuration of diverse forms of firm/territory "productive encounters". This part ends with an overall presentation of the relations between the different dimensions of proximity, the different modes of territorial development and the firms' strategies in the context of globalisation.