Western economies are mainly based on knowledge-intensive industries. This has caused a major geographical shift and a divide in economic growth between few prosperous, larger city-regions and many non-core, smaller towns that are trailing behind. At the heart of this PhD thesis is an investigation into the causes of uneven economic and socio-economic development in Denmark. The PhD thesis includes four papers. Papers 1 and 2 examine how the local employment structures of towns influence local employment growth and socio-economic development. Paper 3 investigates the potential for regional development by examining the professional preferences of highly skilled public employees and their influence on the choice of workplace, using the case of hospital doctors as an example. Lastly, Paper 4 studies the strategic actions that allow low- and medium low-tech manufacturing firms in smalltown locations to remain competitive in a high-cost economy.

The main conclusion of the first two papers is that local employment structures and the geographical locations of towns have worked either as a barrier or a catalyst producing uneven local and regional development in terms of both employment growth and socio-economic change. Based on the findings of Paper 3, it is concluded that professional preferences influence significant measures in choice of workplace and that state institutions and agencies via these have possibility to bridge the connections between core and non-core regions, based on these preferences. Paper 4 concludes that the competitiveness of manufacturing firms in small towns is based on active strategies and continuous routine, organisation and technology fine-tuning. However, this leaves little room for job creation, and, consequently, for evolving local economies. In sum, the thesis finds uneven geographies to be rooted in different structures, mainly in the labour market, that are evident at the local and regional levels.