The Life Region launches a strategy for sustainable development, setting out from a socio-ecological position and developing a model for a socially and culturally supportive community, or 'Life Region'. Special emphasis is placed on the situation of the provincial and peripheral regions of Europe and the world, and the introduction of self-reliant civic strategies in national and international politics. Three aspects of regional policy are looked at in detail: spatial planning, cultural policy and social development, and regional economics and regional science are also touched upon. Presenting the ideas of a number of distinguished European researchers and debaters, The Life Region will be a major contribution to the emerging debate on social and cultural strategies for sustainable global development.