Territorial capital as a determinant of development processes in functional areas

The sectoral approach to shaping processes of development has recently started to lose ground to a territorial-based approach. The territorial approach has already become the leading paradigm for creating development policies on the EU level as well as on national and/or regional levels. This results from the growing role of territorial capital in the globalizing world – even though globalization is an undisputed fact, the development policies are increasingly emphasizing the need to adapt development plans to the existing, specific conditions characterizing each territory. Endogenic resources which in their entirety create territorial capital are typically located within the administrative borders of several, functionally inter-dependent territorial units. That is why individual communes (or other territorial units, i.e. districts or even regions) should not become the leading subjects of development policies as this role is best performed by entire functional areas. A functional area may cover the territory of anywhere from several to over a dozen communes and/ or districts located in not just one administrative region and as such requires that an integrative approach to steering development processes is applied. The article aims at analyzing the changes in perception of the ‘territorial capital’ concept as well as at highlighting its growing importance with regards to development processes. The authors will also indicate the possible dimensions in which integration of the approach to steering development processes is possible.