MENG Qing-min, LI Guo-ping, YANG Kai-zhong
Social development is in the face of globalization and the knowledge-based economy. Based on the knowledge-based economy and learning firms which is lately put forward in geographical science and regional science, the essay summarizes new regional development mode: the conception of learning region. Learning region is a kind of flexible network system under the environment of different challenges and opportunities, which is promoted by all kinds of regional subjects including firms, governments, civil, locals, et al., and based on the regional network and information system. It explores the route of building learning region, including relational network for firms, relational network for regions and relationship network for countries. And the main part is building relationship network for firms, the basic parts are relational network for regions and countries. The connotation of proximity is made up of social proximity, cultural proximity, organization proximity, and space proximity. At last, it puts forward the basic characteristics of learning region, which are learning and innovating progress in the fields of society, culture, organization and institution including all the local subjects of firms, government, the local and civil, in order to exert the activity of learning region and develop the networks' effect of region. And under the environment of globalization, information modernization, network modernization and knowledge modernization, the new regional development strategy is building learning region.