Regional Formation and Development Studies

The development process of any area is anfractuous. It is a multi-stage process. It starts with the area’s attractiveness, attractingresources, which are necessary for its development and ensures their preservation and retention for the area. When using theseresources optimally, efficiently and productively, area’s competitive advantages are achieved and, the area becomes competitive.Competitiveness is driving force and potential of growth of the territory. Growth facilitates quantitative changes of the resources,i.e. accumulation and development of resources, leading to state of development of the territory. The purpose of the process of territorialdevelopment is qualitative distribution and management of these resources aiming at achieving the concrete result – state ofdevelopment of the territory. In this article, the author structures stages of the territory development process in a definite sequencetaking into account earlier developed theoretical findings in this sphere, as well as she completes the layout of these stages with herown scientific view concerning the final aim of the territorial development to be achieved in the process of the development of theterritory. This aim is the territory’s state of development, which can be measured and compared, when considering success of theprocess of territorial development.