Urban regeneration is driven by many different engines. These engines, however, in some circumstances may appear to turn to either a success or failure factor. In this context, it is appropriate to analyse how factors that serve the regeneration process are affected by embedding research in a particular paradigm set by the theories of so called “regional development”. The choice of these concepts analysed in the article was the result of literature review. The article consists of four parts. The first part defines the development factors and shows how the concentration of negative phenomena in degraded areas may inhibit their optimal use in the context of the city as a whole. Two subsequent chapters analyse how major theories of regional development picture external and internal factors that influence the development of a specific territory. Then, in the summary the author discusses, how main urban and regional development theories reflect the rationale for mitigating barriers in using local development factors as real driving forces of urban regeneration.