After 70 years of reign, the death of Queen Elizabeth II on 8th September 2022 has generated considerable public interest and has reignited debates on the value of the monarchy. This article reflects on the impact of the royal family on UK tourism, nationally and regionally and the potential socio-economic legacy of Queen Elizabeth II. […]
There is a clear consensus amongst both academic commentators and the professional community in England that current arrangements for strategic planning are inadequate. The abolition of Regional Spatial Strategies (RSS) between 2010-2013 opened a gap between national and local levels which has not been adequately filled. Instead, a complex patchwork of institutional and policy forms […]
We join the UK and international community in mourning the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. As a mark of respect, on Monday 19th September 2022, the Regional Studies Association office will be closed for the State Funeral. We will reopen on Tuesday 20th September.
We welcome Simon Clarke MP to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities and we offer any help to him as he begins to understand the depth and breadth of his portfolio. Our Policy Impact book Levelling Up Left Behind Places: The Scale and Nature of the Economic and Policy Challenge, co-authored by Professor […]
We were very much saddened to hear of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and we are thinking of the Royal Family at this very difficult time.
Negotiating Economic Growth and Geopolitical Risks: Regional Impacts and Implications of Chinese investments in the UK, 2000-2020 This project addresses a major and surprisingly under-addressed gap in regional studies, namely the role of geopolitics in regional economic resilience. Through examining whether subnational regions (firms, local authorities and workers) in the UK are willing to trade […]
The impacts of COVID-19 have been experienced unevenly: health impacts of the disease are well known to differ with greater risks associated with co-morbidities, including increased age and other vulnerabilities. The economic impacts are similarly diverse, with shocking intensity varying by groups: those from low-income backgrounds have been more likely to experience financial hardship, as […]
Following discussion with the RSA Board please find below the most recent RSA response to the USS consultation. 2022 RSA Response to USS Consultation
Spatial Inequality in the Smart City – Does increasing smartness lead to increased inequalities? The Spatial Inequality in the Smart City project, funded by The Alan Turing Institute, highlights the potential of smart cities increasing rather than reducing observed spatial inequalities. The backbone of Smart City infrastructures are digital technologies, such as sensors, that are […]
In this Youtube video, Professor David Bailey discusses the recent report explored below in this RSA Blog Post. Back in mid-2020, UK in a Changing Europe published a report on the effects of Brexit on UK manufacturing, analysing the picture up to the point of publication and offering thoughts on the likely effects after […]
I joined the RSA in August 2016, when the RSA office was still based in Seaford, East Sussex, UK. I helped pack boxes when we moved into the Sussex Innovation Centre and now, five years later I am saying goodbye whilst working from home. Klara (right) and Daniela (left) in Brussels (2016) I feel […]
Sally has been CEO of the Regional Studies Association for just over 30 years. She has developed the organisation from a small, UK focused organisation into a global Association with an international footprint. Sally has become an advocate on publishing issues for the learned society sector speaking regularly at national conferences and events, advocating on […]
Small Grant Scheme on Pandemics, Cities, Regions & Industry: Ethnic Food Entrepreneurship and Migrant Inclusion in the UK: the Impact of the Pandemic Ethnic food businesses are often the first point of interaction of all migrants with their local communities, and thus capture in numerous subtle ways the cultural intersections between the local and the […]
Louise Kempton is Professor for Urban and Regional Policy at the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies (CURDS), Newcastle University, UK. She has over 30 years’ experience as a researcher, policy maker and practitioner in local, regional and international economic development. Her current research is focused on the evolving understanding of the role of universities […]
This blog was originally published on the Bennett Institute for Public Policy website and has been reproduced with permissions from the authors. This blog follows the release of the book Levelling Up Left Behind Places: The Scale and Nature of the Economic and Policy Challenge by Ron Martin, Ben Gardiner, Andy Pike, Peter Sunley and […]
Julia, a Polish national, joined UNU-MERIT in 2022 as a PhD Student Affairs Officer. She has worked as an Education & Research Officer at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASoS) of Maastricht University. Julia holds her MA degree in European Public Affairs (2021) and BA degree in European Studies (2020). Her research interests include European […]
Whether we call it cohesion, levelling up, lagging regions, or place-based policy; regional inequality has been a long-term persistent problem. I started to become really interested in how places adapt, and what we would find if we begin from the starting point of adaptation – particularly using the Deleuzian Assemblage and the complex adaptive […]
One of the most striking features of the COVID-19 pandemic is the marked spatial difference in the spread of the virus. Initially, urban areas were hit hardest by Covid-19, followed by smaller cities, rural towns and small hamlets. Differences in population density and occupational concentration have been proposed as key factors explaining the urban-rural difference […]
The Covid-19 pandemic has severely impacted our daily lives and lead to the disruption of global value chains and cross-border mobility. International higher education has also been profoundly affected by these shifts, as international students have been unable to travel to their overseas campus locations and university campuses in many countries have shifted to online […]
“What do you do here?” is a common question we get asked as islanders from the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. Visitors from cities may regard remote, rural, and island places as backward – at times seeking such places out as empty ‘wilderness’ that is devoid of people. But we ask to what extent does such […]
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. Studying the farming history in the UK I realised there had been inflexion points where farming’s fortunes have changed dramatically. For example, the 1920’s agricultural crisis (for the […]
The official 2021 RSA Response to the USS Consultation. RSA Response to USS Consultation
From tech clusters to the creative class, innovation is often associated with urban agglomeration. Rural innovation receives less attention. Sometimes, stereotypes and nostalgia locate rural places in the past and forget that rural people need futures. Sometimes, policies situate cities as ‘engines’ of growth and simply assume rural places will be pulled along … eventually. […]
Thirty learned societies, including the RSA, have recently signed a response (coordinated by the Academy of Social Sciences) to the UKRI announcement on funding research supported by Official Development Assistance. Find out more details and the full statement here https://www.acss.org.uk/news/academy-responds-to-ukri-announcements-on-funding-cuts/