We are delighted to announce the launch of www.fingeo.net, the website of the Global Network on Financial Geography (FinGeo).
You can read the report on the 5th Global Seminar & 1st Spring School of the RSA research network The Global Network on Financial Geography (FinGeo) here: https://regions.regionalstudies.org/ezine/article/report-on-the-5th-global-seminar-1st-spring-school-of-the-rsa-research-network-the-global-network-on-financial-geography-fingeo/
The key aim and ambition of the RSA Research Network on Financial Geographies (FinGeo) is to take a debate on “finance and regional studies” to the next level by building a global network of researchers in order to leadcutting-edge research on financial geographies, which are critical to regional studies and yet continue to be underexplored by the field. Building on the strengths of our previous successful RSA Research Network (see below) we are now proposing to pursue a twin strategy of (a) opening up the range of issues under consideration to include all key aspects of financial geographies and their intersection with regional studies; and (b) substantially expanding our Network membership globally well beyond Europe, especially in the USA, China/Asia and Brazil/South America.
We believe that exciting new avenues of research can be created by following this two- pronged approach. Indeed, it will not only allow cross-continental comparisons of geographically differentiated forms of enmeshments between finance and regions, but will also enrich the debate by facilitating exchanges of views of researchers from different backgrounds and academic traditions. The eventual aim is to create a truly global Network of researchers that will push the boundaries of regional studies and contribute to policy debates through high quality research outputs and engagement with stakeholders. In doing so, it will contribute to the core mission Regional Studies Association and its global reach.
The relevance of finance (and its geographies) for regional studies is now beyond doubt and its importance is only set to increase as the repercussions of the recent global financial crisis continue to reverberate. By focusing on financial geographies, the Network addresses an area of regional studies where a substantial research lacuna still exists and where, by implication, significant new contribution and progress to regional studies can thus be made. When we set up our original Network back in summer 2010, there were signs that the worst excesses of the 2008 financial crisis were behind us and that a global recovery might soon follow. However, subsequent events such as the protracted Eurozone/Greek crisis and most recent Chinese stock market volatility prove that financial processes remain very much central to the evolving economic landscapes. Moreover, these financial processes cannot be separated from their regional dimensions (as has long been argued by Leyshon and Thirft, 1997; Martin, 1999; Wójcik, 2011, inter alia).
Indeed, all these financial convulsions will have profound effects on regional development in different places around the globe and test their resilience (in Europe, US and BRIC countries alike). In other words, finance is central to economic geographies (Pike and Pollard, 2010; French et al., 2011) and understanding it is inevitably essential to regional studies analysis. This is hardly surprising given the increasing power of finance over economies and societies – a process known as ‘financialisation’ (see Epstein, 2005; Krippner, 2005; Froud et al., 2006; Aalbers, 2008; Engelen, 2008; Stockhammer, 2008; Lapavitsas, 2013). Urban and regional development processes are not immune from ‘financialisation’ – in fact, they appear to play a key role in it (Bassens and van Meeteren, 2014). Regional studies, therefore, cannot afford to overlook financial geographies and their impact on regions and localities.
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Upcoming Events
- 1st FinGeo Global Seminar – Beijing (China) – International Geographical Congress – 21 August 2016
- 2nd FinGeo Global Seminar – Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge (EUA) – Finance, Geography and Sustainability: Lessons for Urban Planning, Development and Beyond – 3 – 4 April 2017
- 3rd FinGeo Global Seminar – Brussels (Belgium) – The Financial Geographies of Europe – 4 – 6 September 2017
- 4th FinGeo Global Seminar – Singapore – Conference on Global Production – 6 – 8 December 2017
- 5th FinGeo Global Seminar – Brussels (Belgium) – European Spaces of Financialization – 28 – 29 May 2018
- 6th FinGeo Global Seminar – São Paulo (Brazil) – Geography, Finance and Uneven Development – 15 – 17 May 2019