Book Review: Vibrant Virginia: Engaging the commonwealth to expand economic vitality by Margaret Cowell and Sarah Lyon Hill, (eds)

Abstract

Rural versus urban. Red versus blue. New economy versus old economy. The conventional narrative—and too often corresponding reality—of the experience in the United States focuses on the divisions and differing opportunities and outcomes among different regions of the country. The Commonwealth of Virginia is a microcosm and reflection of such national differences. Northern Virginia is a robust economic engine with strong economic ties to the federal government, major universities, and a strong tech economy— including Amazon’s HQ2. Meanwhile, southwest Virginia has more in common with West Virginia and their other Appalachian neighbors: historic reliance on coal and agriculture, economic distress, and health disparities such as the opioid crisis—just to name a few of the myriad of challenges. While Blacksburg and Arlington are just 4 hours apart by car, the distance seems much greater in terms of culture, politics, and economic opportunity. In the face of these divisions, Dr. John Provo, director of Virginia Tech’s Center for Economic and Community Engagement (CECE), conceived the idea for the Vibrant Virginia initiative. Vibrant Virginia focuses on “equal and engaged partnerships among university faculty and communities for the purpose of imagining possibilities and co-creating solutions to economic and social challenges” (p. 4). This edited book, Vibrant Virginia, with contributed chapters by a host of Virginia Tech scholars and their community partners, was one outcome of the larger initiative to bridge the chasms that exist across the rural and urban continuum in Virginia. The book begins with an introduction to the Vibrant Virginia initiative and a preview of the four parts of the book and each corresponding chapter. Part I seeks to “unpack” urban and rural divisions in the state and explore the role of state policy in bridging the existing economic divisions. Part II focuses on strategies for “cultivating a vibrant and connected economy” across the urban–rural continuum, including a recasting of industry clusters to bridge the gap, entrepreneurial ecosystems development, higher education and workforce development, and broadband connectivity. Part III’s four chapters focus on the role of creative place making through arts, main streets, and scenic tourism. Part IV concludes the book with chapters on the role of health in ensuring vibrant communities through refugee and migrant support, public health and addiction, and rural air service. The diversity of authors in an edited volume such as this one lends each chapter a different style and geographic orientation. Some chapters offer more statewide, data-driven perspectives, while other chapters are more localized in focus and provide case study examples. The strength of such an approach allows the chapters to serve as stand-alone contributions for their respective focus areas. The corresponding weakness is that the reader must often deliberately consider how the case studies written by practitioners correspond to the broader urban–rural continuum and whether such examples are truly generalizable to other parts of Virginia and the rest of the country. For example, the earlier chapters in the book are filled with statewide maps, charts, and graphs depicting the urban–rural demographic and economic differences and similarities. The later chapters on the arts and scenic tourism are filled with color photos of scenic countrysides and main street designs. Despite these differences, the editors do an admirable job drawing together these diverse voices and perspectives and focusing them on the overarching theme of creating more vibrant communities across the commonwealth. Readers of Economic Development Quarterly will find several chapters in the book of particular interest. In Chapter 4, Christiana K. McFarland and Erica Grabowski find that employment growth is greater in Virginia communities when the jobs are part of regional clusters. They further explore the connectivity of industries comprising these clusters across metropolitan, micropolitan, rural-adjacent, and rural-remote communities. They conclude by offering some Book Review