Vector-valued local approximation spaces

We prove that for every Banach space $Y$, the Besov spaces of functions from the $n$-dimensional Euclidean space to $Y$ agree with suitable local approximation spaces with equivalent norms. In addition, we prove that the Sobolev spaces of type $q$ are continuously embedded in the Besov spaces of the same type if and only if $Y$ has martingale cotype $q$. We interpret this as an extension of earlier results of Xu (1998), and Martinez, Torrea and Xu (2006). These two results combined give the characterization that $Y$ admits an equivalent norm with modulus of convexity of power type $q$ if and only if weakly differentiable functions have good local approximations with polynomials.