The OECD's Territorial Development Policy Committee (TDPC) is a unique international forum for policy analysis and exchange of information on regional development, regional competitiveness, urban development, rural development, multi-level governance  and regional statistics and indicators.

Regions are the building blocks of the national economy. Every country needs competitive, dynamic regions if it is to achieve its economic and social objectives at the national level. As such, regional development is an indispensable complement to national macroeconomic and structural policies.

Moreover, globalisation poses new challenges to regions and to current regional development policies.

The issue for government is to promote adjustment across the whole territory – from metropolitan regions to rural regions, and from dynamic high-tech cores to more traditional manufacturing areas. This involves removing structural obstacles to growth, building on existing capacities and developing new strengths, while also addressing the consequences of this adjustment.

Good governance - between national and regional governments, among sub-national levels of government, and between private and public actors - enhances the competitiveness of all regions; poor governance can increase regional disparities, creating imbalances and even resistance to change.

The TDPC's work programme focuses on regional competitiveness and multi-level governance. The factors underlying competitiveness and their governance implications are explored in a series of Territorial Reviews of regional policy and through regional statistics and indicators.

The Committee's work is supported by three working parties:

The Urban Working Party addresses the specific concerns of cities and metropolitan regions and analyses key issues in urban policy.

The Rural Working Party looks at the challenges facing rural regions and rural communities and assesses rural development policies in OECD countries.

The Working Party on Territorial Indicators maintains a database of regional statistics (the OECD Regional Database) and develops indicators to assess the performance of regions across the OECD.