The “advantage of backwardness”—the notion that low-income countries can grow faster by borrowing and adapting existing technology—has long been central to the theory of economic convergence. However, transition countries seeking European Union (EU) membership have been lagging behind. Despite some progress, the gap between them and the EU remains substantial. Why have these countries struggled […]
Call for Proposals for the Regional Studies Association’s Regions & Cities Book Series Published by Routledge Places, Networks, and Uneven Spatial Development Regions and cities develop unevenly, within and without, and value is created spatially across their unevenness through places and networks. Regions and cities are sub- and supra-national geographies, often with contested, overlapping boundaries, […]
The Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography (IfL), in partnership with the Institute of Geography at the University of Leipzig, the Sorbian Institute in Bautzen, and the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, invites Papers for the international conference “Difference and Belonging: Indigenous and Autochthonous National Minorities in Europe’s Transforming Regions” (MINREG2025). Following the Charta of the […]
The following piece is a brief extract from a more comprehensive study on the impact of two trends in the context of Cohesion Policy: hyper-Lisbonisation and re-nationalisation. The article investigates how these trends are intertwined with the reiterative resort to employing Cohesion Policies funds outside of their original objectives and legal provisions, particularly to counterbalance […]
Leaving No One Behind? Navigating Regional Socio-Economic and Employment Impacts in the Context of Just Transition Transitioning to a low-carbon economy is crucial for sustainability and climate resilience, but it requires significant transformation, particularly in vulnerable regions with economic and social disadvantages. The purpose of this project is to analyse the socio-economic impacts of transitioning […]
On the 9th April, 2025, the Association reached its sixtieth anniversary. To celebrate this milestone, a new logo was released and several events were organised across the year.
We are delighted to invite you to participate in City+2025@Oxford, an international conference on interdisciplinary urban studies, taking place on 29–30 September 2025 at the School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford. The conference theme is “Urban Data Analytics and the Polycrisis.” We are pleased to invite you to submit an abstract by April 20, 2025 for consideration […]
Andrássy University Budapest invites scholars as well as practitioners to submit papers for a Workshop on Infrastructure and Cross-Border Cooperation held on 20-22 November 2025. In recent years, infrastructure and infrastructure policy have increasingly become the focus of political and academic interest in various disciplines – so much so that there is sometimes even talk […]
Ignazio is Professor of Regional Economic Development at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University. He is also Head of the Accounting and Financial Management Department (AFM), and Research Fellow at the EU*Asia Institute, ESSCA School of Management, Angers (France). Ignazio’s work addresses multiple themes and topics in the economics and environment fields, with particular emphasis on […]
Ignazio is Professor of Regional Economic Development at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University. He is also Head of the Accounting and Financial Management Department (AFM), and Research Fellow at the EU*Asia Institute, ESSCA School of Management, Angers (France). Ignazio’s work addresses multiple themes and topics in the economics and environment fields, with particular emphasis on […]
Ignazio is Professor of Regional Economic Development at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University. He is also Head of the Accounting and Financial Management Department (AFM), and Research Fellow at the EU*Asia Institute, ESSCA School of Management, Angers (France). Ignazio’s work addresses multiple themes and topics in the economics and environment fields, with particular emphasis on […]
Ignazio is Professor of Regional Economic Development at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University. He is also Head of the Accounting and Financial Management Department (AFM), and Research Fellow at the EU*Asia Institute, ESSCA School of Management, Angers (France). Ignazio’s work addresses multiple themes and topics in the economics and environment fields, with particular emphasis on […]
Tom joined the RSA in 2025 as the Head of Publishing after many years working for leading academic publishers, specifically Elsevier and Sage Publishing. At the latter, as a Director, he helped lead the development of the company’s (then) nascent medicine and life science programme, as well as its gold OA journal programme. Throughout his […]
The concept of ‘entrepreneurial ecosystem’ is gaining popularity in regional studies. Under this label, we find various conditions and policies that either support or inhibit local entrepreneurship, especially its most dynamic variety – innovative and growth-oriented new firms. In our ongoing research, we ask if the city ecosystem characteristics that support dynamic entrepreneurship are consistent […]
This year the CJRES annual conference is taking place in Cambridge at St. Catherine’s College the 17th and 18th of July 2025, as usual sponsored by the Cambridge Political Economy Society. The theme of this year’s conference is ‘The Climate Crisis: making cities resilient’ Further on the call for papers is available here: https://cpes.org.uk/events/cjres2025/ The current deadline for […]
2025 YEGN Workshop – Agency and Regional Transformation We hereby invite PhD students and recent graduates to participate in the upcoming YEGN Workshop on agency and regional transformation in the Hanseatic City of Greifswald. It will take place at the University of Greifswald, one of the oldest universities in Europe, founded in 1456. The Young […]
Conscious that next year marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Regional Studies Association (RSA), at the most recent meeting of the RSA Board, Board members and I began thinking about an updated strategy for the Association. We agreed that a strategic plan should be finalised no later than December 2025. Why take […]
This blog was written for the RSA Blog Student Summer Series that will highlight graduate student success in regional studies across the globe throughout the summer. The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed how and where we work. Rates of remote working skyrocketed during national lockdowns; for many, this was the ‘grand experiment nobody wanted’. […]
Sarah Ayres is Professor of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Bristol, UK. Her central research interest is the governance of place, space and territory. This core provides the basis for two main strands of work. First, her research is concerned with devolution and decentralisation in both a UK and an international context, […]
Sarah Ayres is Professor of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Bristol, UK. Her central research interest is the governance of place, space and territory. This core provides the basis for two main strands of work. First, her research is concerned with devolution and decentralisation in both a UK and an international context, […]
Neil Lee is a Professor of Economic Geography at the LSE. He is also Professor II at the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences and theme convenor at the LSE’s International Inequalities Institute. His research has been funded by international and private sector organisations including the World Bank, OECD, the EIB, and Barclays Bank, and cited in […]
For more related to this blog, check out the full article recently published. Legal geography as a subdiscipline of human geography has been progressively gaining momentum across geographic and legal fora. Legal geography examines the co-constitutivity of law, power, and place, and has been employed to explore issues of spatial justice across contexts and […]
Heike Mayer is Professor of Economic Geography in the Institute of Geography at the University of Bern in Switzerland. She is also a member of the University of Bern`s Center for Regional Economic Development (CRED). As a member of the University of Bern executive board, she holds the function of Vice-Rector Quality and Sustainable Development […]
Our Corporate member, the Academy for Territorial Development in the Leibniz Association (ARL), is an independent, non-partisan institution for the spatial sciences, offering knowledge-based analysis and advice on current sustainable spatial development issues. The ARL operates a Knowledge and Communication Platform (www.arl-international.com) that provides access to the Academy’s work internationally and serves as an information, […]