Do rural banks help women’s microenterprises? [A case from Indonesia] The low value and number of loans extended to women entrepreneurs in micro sectors is often associated with societal gender inequality. Previous studies have shown that in patriarchal societies, where gender bias against women is stronger, women tend not to apply for loans, relying instead […]
Governing Diverse Polities: How Regional Language Shapes Political Attitudes Research on democratization, state-building and community formation stresses the importance of language and identity for building cohesive polities and fostering democratic legitimacy; and research shown that regionalism and regional identity have consequences for people’s political behavior and attitudes, including anti-democratic sentiment. Language is a major aspect of […]
(Re)Setting the Agenda: Investigating the Gendered Power-relations in the Leadership of Regional Development and Policy-making This project will challenge the masculine-coded forms of place-leadership in regional development by closely examining the different approaches to leadership that exist within regions, and ways in which different conceptualisations of power are enacted and shape policy-making and development visions. “I […]
Staying in or Moving out? – Quality of Life, Interregional Migration Decisions and Covid-19 Although COVID-19 is a global health emergency, it is experienced in local contexts, which may not all be equally equipped to offer good quality of life in pandemic conditions. Exogenous shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and associated “lockdown” policies, may […]
Renewable Energy Transition and the Local Economic Development of Lagging-behind Regions Renewable energy sources are becoming increasingly important in the energy mix, making up to 35% of the electricity production in the EU in 2019, with wind power accounting for 35% of the total electricity generated from renewable sources. There is a need to better […]
Exploring the potential of a postgrowth-inspired agenda for urban transport planning after COVID-19 Private cars’ dominant role in urban transport imposes huge health and environmental costs on cities worldwide, with the greatest share paid by more vulnerable citizens, including children and ethnic minorities. Traffic fatalities, reduced space for safe social interactions together with dangerous levels of […]
Speculating on Jakarta’s Future: Real Estate and Water Crisis in Jakarta The aim of this project is to understand the role of speculative urban development in generating water crises, and how water crises in turn shape real estate markets in Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital city. I will use mixed methods, combining remote sensing analysis with interviews, […]
Setting the course for lignite mining regions in transition – Unpacking the pre-formation phase of path creation The current lignite exit in Germany has created a situation in which the dominant industrial path in lignite mining regions is removed and immense structural funds are turning these regions into playgrounds for new path creation. But which […]
Does organised crime distort the market for low-carbon energy production? Geographical evidence from Italy. The transition to low-carbon energy sources is considered as one of the key policies to tackle climate change and, to this aim, many European governments have been supporting the transition to renewable energy through subsidies. Growing anecdotal evidence suggests that the […]
Production relocation and subcontractors’ resilience in manufacturing regions: does upgrading help to survive structural shocks? The aim of this project is to assess how small subcontractors operating in low-tech manufacturing industries update their strategies in response to the decision of client firms to relocate production abroad. The main assumption is that, when small producers become […]
Knowledge complexity of renewable energy technologies (RETs) in European regions: a network-based approach. Climate change constitutes one of the most urgent problems nowadays, in which transition toward sustainability is considered necessary. Energy production is one of the most significant determinants of this transition. Within the literature of sustainability transitions, renewable energy technologies (RETs) constitute innovations […]
The aim of this research project is to investigate the operation and assess the added value of the EU cohesion policy’s special support instruments. By investigating the implementation of JESSICA and JASPER schemes and their impacts and spill-over effects in two of the Central and Eastern European EU member states, the study will fill a […]
Title: The Disjuncture of National and Local Policy Strategies in Chinese Cities: Exploring the Interface of Affordable Housing Strategies and Human Capital Market This research argues that the confounding nature of Sino-capitalism (Peck & Zhang, 2013) is exacerbated by disjuncture between China’s centralised aims and controls and its emerging array of decentralised local governance choices. […]
Follow the Money: The Financing and Financialization of Sustainable Urban Projects in China The recent two decades have witnessed a surge of urban sustainable projects in the global South. Under the guidance of relational geography and “Southern” urbanism, following the movement of planning ideas and policies has been the primary method scholars use to study […]
Knowledge network dynamics in the presence of shocks: A network-based approach to regional resilience My project aims at understanding how regional knowledge networks can stimulate regional economic resilience. This ambition is motivated by theories considering knowledge networks crucial for regions to gain, after a crisis, impetus towards renewal. Yet, empirical evidence on the dynamics of […]
Effects of Indigenous Land Rights on Land Use Decisions Project summary: Responding to calls within Indigenous communities to more closely examine land claims processes, this project aims to understand whether land tenure in Indigenous communities leads to attitudes and policies favoring development or conservation. I will employ a mixed-methods approach combining globally-scaled satellite night-light imagery […]
Reimagining metropolitan fragmentation: The Local Autonomy Project The fragmentation of metropolitan regions into dozens and sometimes hundreds of general-purpose local governments has for decades been at the heart of a debate about optimal metropolitan governance. Scholars have long recognized that fragmentation is a complex concept capable of measurement through multiple dimensions. Early measures focused on […]
Political Disaffection in Europe’s Rust Belt Regions The aim of this project is to understand how a sustained decline in manufacturing has altered democratic life in affected societies. The central question of the project is: How has regional and local deindustrialization brought about a disenchantment with mainstream politics? The project focuses on two possible mechanisms […]
China’s resource-based cities in the shrinking paradigm: population change, economic revitalisation, and urban liveability Traditional planning paradigms have long concentrated on urban growth, and governance has been primarily oriented toward strengthening the role of cities as “growth machines” (Logan and Molotch, 1987). Therefore, officials, urban policymakers and planners tend to stigmatise urban shrinkage. In fact, […]
Project Title: Assessing project-led development in China’s new towns Since the introduction of a nationwide market-based urban land system in 1988, municipal governments in China have shifted their focus from management of the planned economy to spatial planning for the purpose of enhancing economic growth. The production of space has become a key driver of […]
Governing the low-carbon energy transition in fossil fuel-dependent coastal regions: a comparativestudy of Iwaki and Iburi in Japan The project evaluates how two former coal-mining coastal regions in Japan – Iwaki in Fukushima Prefecture, and Iburi in Hokkaido – face the challenge of balancing the short-term employment and economic benefits that continue to be derived […]
‘The Search for the Social Contract in England’s Regions’ This project will use Social Contract theory to investigate (the lack of) engagement with sub-national institutions and policies in England.It will do this by using a case study of the Leicestershire region and analysing data through the lens of Social Contract Theory (principally through the work […]
Understanding the declining trend in internal migration in Europe Internal migration is of fundamental importance for individuals and families to achieve their goals and aspirations. At a societal level, internal migration underpins the effective functioning of the labour and housing markets. It is essential to economic resilience by bringing knowledge, skills and labour to locations […]
Project title: Relatedness, knowledge complexity and technological opportunities of regions: A framework for smart specialisation The main aim of this project is to contribute theoretically and empirically to the smart specialisation debate in the regional studies literature. Smart specialisation is the underlying innovation policy concept for Europe 2020 – the EU’s growth strategy for the coming decade. […]