Planning for Inclusive Prosperity: Lessons from the North Carolina Experience

We present North Carolina as a working laboratory for agency within a new political economy. North Carolina has gone through a significant political transformation in recent years, threatening key institutions and channels for promoting inclusive forms for economic development. But this shift has not meant a wholesale loss or retreat of progressive actors and actions. Progress is still being made by planners and practitioners, though often in new forms and through alternative channels and partnerships. This paper presents three examples of continued efforts by planners to promote living wage standards, extend job-centered training opportunities, and upskill and upgrade legacy industries. It demonstrates the ways that planners can redirect policy goals and collectively articulate a vision of a more equitable form of economic development