2025 RSA Annual Conference Special Sessions

The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) are bringing their SMARTER sessions to the RSA Annual Conference 2025 in Porto. The overall focus of the SMARTER stream is on challenges and opportunities of place-based transformations towards sustainability and resilience.

They have proposed three JRC SMARTER sessions one in collaboration with the OECD.

1. Innovation and entrepreneurship in rural areas: theory and practice

Session organisers:
Simone Sasso, European Commission – Joint Research Centre, Seville
Michelle Marshalian, OECD, Paris

Session Description:

Understanding and measuring innovation and entrepreneurship in rural areas is challenging, given the distinct nature of innovation in rural contexts compared to urban settings. The difference arises from various factors including the economic structures of rural areas, such as the size and sector composition of businesses, and the occupational makeup of the workforce. In this session, we invite quantitative and qualitative papers that analyse how innovation and entrepreneurship unfold in rural areas, focusing on their patterns, characteristics, and key determinants.

We also welcome both theoretical and empirical contributions that study the configurations of innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems in rural areas and their role in unlocking rural development potential. Considering the importance of connectivity in rural areas, we encourage papers that examine how connections and collaborations among internal and external actors are formed or disrupted, and the role of urban-rural linkages in strengthening rural ecosystems.

 

2. Accelerating the achievements of the SDGs through adequate STI finance: Mapping STI financing flows, actors, and types of financing

Session organiser:
Angela Sarcina, European Commission – Joint Research Centre, Seville

Session Description:

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015, positioned science, technology and innovation (STI) as one of the key pillars for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, despites its transformative role, STI remains underfunded, and the main STI investment targets such as the EU target of 3% expenditure on R&D as a percentage of GDP and the 2024 STISA target of 1% in Africa are not met in most countries.

To finance STI, countries and regions leverage several sources of financing for STI such as domestic public and private finance, foreign direct investment (FDI), and donor capital. However, a primary obstacle they face when implementing STI policies and strategies is the task of securing and effectively utilizing the most appropriate financial resources. Furthermore, in developing contexts, there is often a disconnect between the investment agendas, funding instruments, investors, international donors and the actual needs and priorities at the national and local levels. This misalignment can result in redundant activities and oversight of critical sustainability challenges. To ensure the successful execution of STI strategies, it is essential to understand the landscape of financing in STI, including funding mechanisms, investors, flows and geography.  Besides attracting more funding, improving the effectiveness of STI funding is paramount to unleash the transformative potential of STI.

This special session is open for the submission of contributions that aim to discuss the geography and the directionality of STI financing, with a focus on Europe and Africa, but not exclusively. Moreover, it intends to shed light on mechanisms to improve the directionality of STI funding, as well as funding effectiveness.

Key topics for the session may include:

• Geography of STI financing (by type, flows, gaps, sectors, SDGs, etc.)
• Innovation in STI financing (crowdfunding, debt-for-nature swaps, results-based finance, etc.)
• STI financing and local sustainability needs
• Collaboration and cooperation in STI funding
• Mechanisms to align incentives among STI donor/investor and recipient countries and regions
• The role of the private sector in STI financing
• Governance of STI funding at country or local level

 

3. Smarter, stronger, resilient rural areas

Session organiser:
Lewis Dijkstra, European Commission – Joint Research Centre, Ispra

Session Description:

On many fronts, rural regions in the EU are catching up. The relative gap with urban regions in terms of economic development, productivity, broadband accessibility and the share of tertiary educated has been shrinking over the past decade. But not all rural regions follow the same pattern. Rural regions close to a city are doing most of the converging, while remote rural regions are not reducing the gap. The combination of an ageing population and low fertility rates will alter the age structure of the EU population with big increases in the share of seniors and shrinking share of children and working age adults.

Projections indicate that in the next decade the EU population will start to shrink. These demographic changes affect some regions more than others. Urban regions are the only ones to still grow, while the intermediate and rural regions will shrink. In this session, we invite analysis of economic, demographic and social change in rural regions and areas, especially using a pan-European approach.

We welcome both analysis of the past and projections of the future. Last but not least, we welcome papers that connect these changes to possibly policy responses.

Session Organisers:

Nayara Albrecht, Newcastle University, UK 

Session Details:

In today’s rapidly evolving world, making informed, data-driven decisions is becoming increasingly crucial for policymakers. As regions face complex and unique challenges, ranging from economic disparities to environmental concerns, integrating data into policymaking offers a powerful tool for crafting targeted and effective solutions. This session will delve into the growing relevance of data in shaping policies that are not only evidence-based but also finely tuned to the specific needs of different regions. The session will explore a variety of papers and contributions that demonstrate how data can enhance decision-making, enabling policymakers to tackle pressing regional issues such as economic development, environmental sustainability, and social equity with greater precision and impact. It invites a multidisciplinary approach, encouraging insights from diverse fields that can enrich the discussion on data-driven policymaking. Participants are encouraged to present case studies that showcase the successful implementation of data-driven strategies in various regions, while also acknowledging the challenges that come with integrating data into policy frameworks. Among the key challenges discussed will be issues of data accessibility, privacy concerns, and the critical need for building the capacity of policymakers to effectively utilise data. Ultimately, this session emphasises the importance of collaboration between governments, the private sector, and academic institutions. Such partnerships are essential for overcoming the hurdles associated with data-driven policymaking and fully realising its potential in fostering regional development and addressing local challenges.

Session Organisers:

Emma Ormerod, Newcastle University, UK
Lynette Washington, University of South Australia, Australia

Session Description:

Place-based leadership (PBL) studies has drawn on traditional leadership models, but importantly breaks from these to emphasise agency, the sharing of power, collaboration, informal networking, connectivity, and transformational rather than transactional leadership. Coming largely out of work within the Regional Studies Association, such research has been significant in understanding the development (and divergence) of places: who is leading, in what ways, and how this shapes local and regional place-making. Whilst the study of PBL is now relatively well established, there have been calls for scholarship to pay closer attention to issues of power, diversity and inclusion (Hambleton, 2015; Montero and Medina-Garzon, 2021; Ormerod, 2023; Sotarauta and Beer, 2021). Scholars in critical leadership studies have drawn on a range of perspectives such as feminist, intersectional and decolonial thinking to shed light on unequal leadership (Klenke, 2017; Liu, 2021; Sheridan et al, 2011). How might these and other approaches help shape the future of PBL studies? How can more attention be paid to power relations and systems of oppression across different forms of PBL and different geographies, thus encouraging places to draw on the skills, perspectives and abilities of those who have been excluded? What concepts, theories, methodologies and methods can we use? In this Special Session we welcome submissions that consider the ways in which we might open space to think about future directions in PBL studies. How might we draw on more inclusive practices and thinking that mobilise all members of the community to make visible a range of ongoing inequalities, and think about more equitable futures?

Session Organisers:

Andrea Belmartino Università degli studi di Sassari, Italy
Pablo Galaso UDELAR, Uruguay
Sergio Palomeque UDELAR, Uruguay

Session Description:

Digitalisation and decarbonisation are two of the main strategies for countries to move towards sustainable and inclusive development, impacting the way goods and services are produced and distributed, as well as lifestyles around the world. Both strategies are driven by digital and green technologies. On the one hand, the digital transition infrastructure depends on critical minerals. On the other hand, the green shift paradigm, based on renewable energy technologies, is a turning point compared to previous technology paradigms, based on fossil fuel power generation technologies, as it requires not only significantly larger quantities of critical minerals and minerals, but also a wide range of them. The Latin American region concentrates a high proportion of the world’s production of some of the minerals needed for both transitions, which may open windows of opportunity that will depend on local capabilities and access to knowledge flows.
This session seeks to open a space for discussion on these opportunities for Latin America, and will therefore mainly accept papers dealing with the following topics:

• Just Transition
• Twin transition
• Innovation and sustainability
• Innovation and inequality
• Development of 4.0 technologies
• Green and digital transitions
• Theoretical debate under sustainable transition literature

Session Organisers:

Sonia De Gregorio Hurtado, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
Piotr Idczak, Poznan University of Economics and Business, Poland

Session Description:

The urban axis of the Cohesion Policy has been strengthened in the last budget period, earmarking 8% of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in each Member State for urban actions implemented by local entities. This economic reinforcement operates through urban instruments that from 2007 opened gradually the spectrum of projects that municipalities can carry out, based on the guiding concept of “Sustainable Urban Development (SUD)”, counting with the discursive complement of the Urban Acquis (especially the New Leipzig Charter), the contribution of the Joint Research Center, and still “waiting” for an Urban Agenda for the European Union that does not find the necessary mechanisms and policy support to become a significant route map.

Along with an interesting and rich array of “urban actions”, this scene shows a certain level of policy incoherence and fragmentation as well as inertia to evolve the “sustainability” vision to urban matters so that EU cities can contribute to address local/European challenges. Beyond this, this policy action is being carried out in a context of reflection on Cohesion Policy that aims to “update” EU regional policy, so that our continent achieves the demanding objectives of the European Green Deal. By leveraging their position as economic, social, and cultural hubs, cities can directly support the goals of EU Cohesion Policy through fostering innovation ecosystems, encouraging digitalization, targeting marginalized communities, bridging digital divides, implementing green infrastructure, promoting the circular economy, creating synergies across sectors, and more.

Following this, it is clear that cities are also at the forefront of realizing the objectives of the European Green Deal. They are essential players that can drive the twin just transition at the local level. In a highly complex and uncertain context, when action in cities is emerging as crucial for Europe, this session proposes a reflection on this issue and analysing the potential of the urban axis of the Cohesion Policy post 2027.

The session will feature an introduction by the moderators, and then will give the floor to the contributors. It will be closed with a debate with the audience.
This session is organized in synergy with the Jean Monnet Chair RegenEU- EU urban regeneration to achieve the EGD objectives- (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid) and the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence Transform EU (Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny w Poznaniu).

Session Organisers:

Ida Musialkowska, Poznan University of Economics and Business, Poland
Anabela Santos, European Commission, JRC
Francesco Molica, European Commission, JRC
Andrea Conte, European Commission, JRC
Laura Polverari, University of Padua, Italy
Ugo Fratesi, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Oto Potluka, University of Basel, Switzerland

Session Description:

The impact of the European Union’s cohesion policy has long been the subject of extensive debate at both academic and policy-making levels. Looking ahead, the evolving socio-economic and environmental context and its impact on spatial disparities present significant challenges for policy evaluation. Addressing these will require the discussion of new, multifaceted and mixed approaches and the definition of new narratives that could best adapt the policy design to the fast changing geography of disparities. Rising inequality, the housing crisis, demographic changes, the impact of climate change and automation are just some of the pressing issues that need to be addressed to ensure that cohesion policy continues to deliver effectively.

This special session invites researchers to present their insights and innovations on the evaluation of cohesion policy in the context of these emerging challenges. We seek papers that address evaluation from both perspectives, quantitative and qualitative. Contributions that critically analyze the policy’s impact on reducing regional disparities, improving social inclusion and promoting sustainable development are particularly welcome.

Key topics:
• New methods for assessing the impact of cohesion policy: big data and artificial intelligence (AI) applications
• Evaluating the effectiveness of cohesion policy in addressing economic and social disparities
• Sustainability and climate change considerations in cohesion policy evaluation
• Evaluating the role of cohesion policy in fostering digitalization and closing infrastructure gaps
• Challenges in measuring governance of cohesion policy and its implication
• Synergies between funding instruments and the integrated use of Cohesion Policy with other EU funds (e.g., Horizon Europe, NextGenerationEU)
• Assessing coordination mechanisms between different levels of government
• The role of public and private partnerships in enhancing the effectiveness of cohesion policy
• Comparative and case studies on cohesion policy outcomes across different EU regions

We encourage contributions from a wide range of disciplines, including economics, regional development, public policy, urban planning and environmental studies. This session aims to foster an interdisciplinary dialogue that will contribute to refining and advancing the evaluation of cohesion policy to ensure its continued relevance and effectiveness in the face of future challenges.

There will be a Best Paper Award for early career researchers, with the prize being an invitation to present the winning paper at a JRC seminar in Seville, Spain. Early career researchers are defined as PhD students or those who have completed their PhD after 1 January 2020. Applicants for the Best Paper Award must submit their full papers by the end of March 2025 into their profile on the RSA website and include in the title of the submission “BEST_PAPER_APPLICATION”.

Session Organiser:

Cal Innes, Jisc, UK

Session Description:

Explore key concepts, emerging trends, and practical strategies for reducing the environmental impact of digital practices in this insightful session on digital sustainability. This workshop will provide actionable guidance for organisations seeking to implement sustainable digital initiatives.

Topics will include:

– Defining digital environmental sustainability
– Managing energy consumption and digital carbon footprints
– Tackling e-waste challenges
– Positive contributions of digital technologies to sustainability
– Enhancing energy efficiency in digital systems
– Practical solutions for minimising e-waste

With extensive expertise as a digital sustainability advisor across tertiary education in the UK, Cal will offer practical recommendations and best practices, making this session ideal for those aiming to create greener, more efficient digital operations.

Session Organiser:

Katy Shaw, Northumbria University, UK

Session Description:

The culture of a region is more than just the icing on the cake: it can offer a unique connection between its past, present and future, while the cultural and creative industries can position a region at the forefront of innovation, design, and investment on a global stage. This is important, because UK devolution is not just about moving central government power and money to a local level; it’s about creating investable propositions for the future. The case that a place puts forward for investment must be credible, and culture and creativity are uniquely placed to shape and catalyse growth.
As devolution rolls out across England, we are witnessing the biggest shift in power from the centre to the regions in our living memory. For the new mayoral combined authorities (MCA) onboarding new powers has budgets, the challenge is how to harness culture and the creative industries to foster authentically inclusive models of growth, driving not only headline economic performance but developing self-determination in models of innovation and prosperity. This panel will explore the role of culture and creativity in delivering effective devolution in twenty first century England. It will feature three speakers from English MCAs – academic, civil service, and creative – to offer a 360 perspective on how harnessing the power of people and places can deliver new decentralised agency at a local level to unlock the economic as well as the social benefits of creativity and culture for everyone.

Session Organisers:

Igor Tupy, IPEA, Brasil
Simone Grabner, Austrian Institute for SME Research, Austria
Tasos Kitsos, Aston University, UK

Session Description:

Regions at the age of polycrisis and megatrends are faced with the dual challenge of being resilient whilst transforming. It is now well understood that sub-national geographies are not uniformly impacted by shocks. Disrupted local value chains, reduced economic diversity, and intensifying de-industrialisation are just some examples of the long-term negative hysteretic effects that can put a region into a vicious cycle of underdevelopment. The existing research has been effective in documenting these trends and uncovering different resilience factors in, largely, short-term settings, constrained by longitudinal quantitative and qualitative data availability. Going forward, it is clear that there is a need for more research into the mechanisms, drivers, and policy levers of long-term resilience capacity. These are expected to lead to novel conceptualisations and operationalisations of resilience and invite approaches that trespass academic and methodological boundaries, linking the macro to the micro-level.

This session is the first special session of the Research Network on Transformative Regional Resilience and has a dual aim. Firstly, we aim to bring together researchers interested in regional resilience and discuss the latest theoretical and empirical research in order to better understand the formulation of policy at the subnational level. Secondly, we aim for this to be our inaugural in-person gathering that will establish a thriving network of researchers and stakeholders in transformative regional resilience.

As such, we invite contributions that focus (but not limited) on the broad themes:

– New conceptualisations of economic resilience
– New measures and data of transformative regional resilience
– Qualitative and quantitative empirical evidence of resilience determinants
– The short vs long-term nexus of resilience
– Resilience policies and practices

Session Organisers:

Franziska Görmar, Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, Germany
Max Roessler, University of Greifswald, Germany
Maximilian Benner, University of Vienna, Austria

Session Description:

In recent years, scholars in regional studies have increasingly turned their attention to ideational concepts such as narratives, visions or imaginaries (Benner 2024). It is assumed that by narrating the past, envisioning or imagining (alternative) futures, agents promote specific, often normative understandings of regional development and legitimise their actions in the present (Görmar 2023). They tie past, present and future into coherent storylines, thereby enabling specific development options that fit these storylines to be realised and others to be foreclosed (Görmar & Kinossian 2022; Roessler 2024).

Narratives and visions can be seen as discursive vehicles used by regional development agents to achieve specific strategic goals (Roessler et al. 2024). Yet, collectively shared narratives and imaginaries, which are part of cultural repertoires, also decisively shape agents’ room for manoeuvre (Miörner 2022). This may be particularly relevant for ongoing transformations such as the green and digital transitions, which are driven by strong normative underpinnings (Benner 2024).
While ideational concepts have been studied for at least two decades in various disciplines such as planning, political science or organisational studies, the debate on an emerging ideational turn in economic geography has only just begun. Many questions are still open, including those about terminological differentiations, definitions and possible typologies of narratives, visions and imaginaries, the different ontological and epistemological underpinnings of the concepts, and suitable methodological approaches to capture them.

With this session, we aim to push this debate further. We welcome both empirical and conceptional papers from diverse geographical and disciplinary backgrounds which give answers to the following questions:

– How can we define and distinguish between different ideational concepts in regional development such as narratives, visions and imaginaries?
– How do such discursive or ideational devices shape regional development?
– How do narratives and imaginaries intersect at different scales?
– What methodological approaches are useful for understanding the emergence and evolution of imaginaries, visions and narratives, as well as their consequences?
– What could a focus on imaginaries bring to current debates on transformation, normativity and directionality in regional policy?
– How can different disciplinary perspectives contribute to our understanding of the role of narratives, visions and imaginaries in regional development?

Session Organisers:

Max Roessler, University of Greifswald, Germany
Crhistian Joel González, Gran Sasso Science Institute, Italy
Stefania Fiorentino University of Cambridge, UK

Session Description:

Academics and policy makers have highlighted interpersonal and interterritorial inequalities as central factors in explaining the growing ‘political discontent’ and perceptions of ‘left-behindness’ between and within regions (MacKinnon et al. 2024). Places characterised as ‘left behind’ are mainly described as lagging behind in terms of economic performance, prosperity, opportunity and welfare, while it is important to consider conditions beyond purely economic concerns behind the perception of being ‘left behind’ (Pike et al. 2023).
Recent developments raise questions about the conditions behind these perceptions and the types of policies that are likely to change them and improve the development trajectories and resilience of ‘left-behind places’ (Fiorentino et al. 2023). While it is widely argued that different types of ‘left-behind places’ require different types of policies (MacKinnon et al. 2022), there are significant differences in public perceptions of inequalities and left-behindness (McCann 2019), showing how stories and imaginaries held by key actors materialise and become regional realities (Roesssler 2024).
This session mainly focuses on the perceived dimension of inequalities and left-behindness, bringing together senior and junior researchers to explore the drivers of life satisfaction and dissatisfaction, with a particular focus on the social and economic contexts that contribute to the feeling of being ‘left-behind’.

With this session, we aim to move the debate forward by inviting empirical and conceptual papers from diverse geographical and disciplinary backgrounds on the following topics:
– Theorisations and empirical examples of perceived left-behindness
– Policy responses to inequalities and perceived left-behindness
– Life satisfaction, regional discontent and left-behindness: a multidisciplinary perspective
– The psychology of places: fostering sense of belonging and place identities in left-behind areas
– Socio-economic inequalities affecting subjective well-being in different contexts (urban/rural, national/cross-national)
– Other forms of discontent and regional inequalities

Session Organisers:

Iván Tartaruga, Centre of Studies in Geography and Spatial Planning (CEGOT), Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Porto, Portugal
Gema González-Romero, Department of Human Geography, Faculty of Geography and History, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain
Rocío Silva Pérez, Department of Human Geography, Faculty of Geography and History, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain

Session Description:

The agri-food systems have fundamental influences beyond the essential objective of feeding people, playing a crucial role at a global level in terms of the environment and climate footprint. The definition and search for an alternative agri-food model with environmental sustainability and economic and social objectives is present in the agendas of administrations, NGOs, and citizen associations. Achieving sustainability in these systems requires an agroecological approach rooted in the territorial context. This involves fostering the territorial anchoring of agriculture, short food supply chains, promoting participatory and sustainable consumption, enhancing food security and sovereignty, and delivering ecosystem and biocultural services. Territorial governance, technical and social innovation, and place-based policies are crucial in building inclusive, resilient, and sustainable agri-food systems.

In this context, this special session (*) aims to be a debate space for illustrating sustainable, equitable, or innovative trajectories and problems surrounding territorialised agri-food settings. This session also fosters discussion and collaboration around key theoretical perspectives and practical principles for advancing sustainable and inclusive agri-food systems.

Key topics, but not limited to them:
– sustainable agri-food systems,
– sustainability transitions on agri-food systems,
– territorial governance in agri-food systems,
– place-based policies in agri-food systems,
– innovation in agri-food systems,
– agroecology,
– circular agriculture,
– local food security,
– sustainability in food chains,
– alternative food networks,
– territorial agri-food quality labels,
– biodistricts in rural areas,
– inclusive agriculture,
– alternative development strategies for “left behind” places,
– digitalization in agri-food systems, and
– landscapes and food heritage.

(*) – The session is structured into the scope of the “Territorialised agri-food, territorial brands of agri-food quality, and biodistricts in the landscapes of the Spanish pastures” project (Grant PID2023-146317OB-I00 funded by MICIU/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and, by ERDF/EU); and support from the Centre of Studies in Geography and Spatial Planning (CEGOT), funded by national funds through the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Portugal, under the reference UIDB/04084/2020.

Session Organisers:

Jessica Ferm, UCL, UK
Carl Grodach, Monash University, Australia
Tali Hatuka, Tel Aviv University, Israel

Session Description:

This open special session seeks to advance thinking on the role and place for industry and production in cities and regions. Building on the series of sessions at the 2024 RSA conference, it will gather an emerging international network of researchers working on questions at the city-industry interface. The main aim of this session is to draw together conceptual, methodological and practice-oriented thinking to advance the research agenda and develop international comparative reflections.

Accelerated by the pandemic and geopolitical tensions, governments around the world are increasingly looking for opportunities to reshore manufacturing and reindustrialize places to advance more climate sensitive production, boost domestic production capabilities and address rising workforce inequality. These ambitions are especially significant because they demonstrate a break from the recent past where a narrative of ‘deindustrialisation’ underpinned transitions to ‘post-industrial’ economies and cities. Practically, there are numerous challenges in achieving such ambitions. Many cities with competitive urban land markets now face a critical deficit of industrial land after decades of rezoning established industrial areas and relaxing zoning regulations to attract higher value uses (Bonello et al. 2022; De Boeck & Ryckewaert, 2020; Ferm and Jones, 2017; Leigh and Hoelzel, 2012). Societies also deal with the challenge of skilled labour and supporting education institutions alongside environmental challenges and the race towards advancing clean industries. These three challenges – the urban, social and environmental – bring many opportunities as well as open questions.

The session seeks papers that advance thinking around one or more of the following questions:

1. How to conceptualise city-industry dynamics? Research on the productive city to date has drawn on a range of framings and re-presentations of industry including gentrification and displacement, urban reindustrialisation and advanced manufacturing amongst others. There is an opportunity to explore other conceptual or theoretical perspectives on the industrial city and we welcome papers that develop new framings and imaginaries.

2. How to research industry in the city? Different methodological approaches have been adopted to understand the nature and geographical location of industry in cities, and the policies designed to manage it. Drawing on the methodological traditions of different disciplines (architecture, planning, economic geography, urban anthropology etc), there is potential for interdisciplinary research to enrich our understanding and critical analysis. We welcome reflections on research that has adopted innovative approaches, or those that reflect on methodological challenges.

3. How to support and protect industry in the city? This strand would explore and assess the different regulatory, planning policy and governance approaches adopted across different contexts with a view to assessing their impacts and exploring barriers to implementation.

Session Organisers:

Blanca Casares Guillén, AEIDL (European Association for Innovation in Local Development)
Serafín Pazos-Vidal, AEIDL (European Association for Innovation in Local Development)
Branwen Miles, Copa-Cogeca Brussels, Belgium
Margarita Rico, University Valladolid, Spain
Cristina Amaro da Costa, Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Portugal

Session Description:

The special session on “Exploring Gender Inequalities in Policy: Regional and Rural Perspectives” aims to create a space for reflection on the needs, possibilities and opportunities for mainstreaming gender in European regional policies. It also seeks to inspire rethinking of monitoring systems for (a) gender equality progress, (b) the development of policies and initiatives that prioritise women’s needs for public support and (c) examine impact of changes.

This special session is set within a critical policy development framework, with the Long Term Vision for rural areas with targets to 2040, the recommendations of the Strategic Dialogue on Agriculture, the new mandate of the EU Commission after 2027, the review of the MFF policy including new territorial impact assessments, proposal of the new Multiannual Financial Framework including relevant strategic areas such as Cohesion and Agriculture (2027-2034), as well as the five-year SDG compliance framework, among others.

The session will bring together leading national governance bodies, EU decision makers, advisors, researchers and other experts and representatives of farmers, farmers and womens associations, ONG, etc, to critically examine how gender inequalities manifest in policy-making, particularly in regional and rural contexts. The discussion will examine the extent to which gender mainstreaming has been integrated into European regional policies, explore the unique challenges faced by women in these areas, highlighting disparities in access to resources, public services, training, representation, and the impact of policies on their economic and social well-being.
The panelists (including the four organisers and invited experts) will share views on the intersection of gender and geography, highlighting the need for inclusive policy frameworks that address the unique needs of regional and rural communities. The discussion aims to promote dialogue on proposals and solutions for the policy cycle, along with strategies to achieve gender equity across diverse regions.

Panelists and the audience will reflect on key challenges in order to adequately monitor both women’s needs and the effectiveness of policies. Important challenges to examine the nature and impacts of political, economic, social and environmental changes are:

1. Lack of gender-disaggregated data, as there are few statistics available that are segregated by gender as well as region. It is challenging to develop targeted interventions that could address the specific needs of women in regional areas. Policymakers and researchers cannot fully understand the extent of gender gaps, leading to gender-blind policies and strategies.
2. Limited comparative studies on rural women across Europe hinder a comprehensive understanding of how gender intersects with regional contexts.
3. Absence of identification and tools/support to replicability of best practices from certain areas making it difficult to scale successful initiatives.

Potential guest experts could come from organisations such as MSA France, UN Women Brussels, Wageningen University, Newcastle University, equality unit of the Spanish Ministry of Agro-ecological Transition, etc. given the relationship with them from European Horizon projects such as GRASS CEILING.
Audience participation will be encouraged to drive collaborative thinking on how to bridge these policy gaps. Interaction with the audience is embedded in the programme, which will be ensured by the facilitator based on a participative dynamic. A range of “bold” lead questions will be put forward by the facilitator to seek a reaction from the audience which in turn prompt the speakers to comment.

A rapporteur from AEIDL will follow the discussion to summarise the main ideas: (i) main ideas discussed, (ii) possible solutions and approaches to overcome the challenges and (iii) points of general agreement and disagreement.

Session Organisers:

Femi Owolade, Sheffield Hallam University, UK
Matthew Guest, Sheffield Hallam University, UK

Session Description:

This Special Session builds on the increasing interest in universities’ civic role in partnering with local actors in working towards regional transformations.

Building on recent work by the Civic University Network and the National Civic Impact Accelerator in the UK to develop more robust definitions of civic activity and to identify the domains in which universities can have discernible impacts on the places that host them (Dobson and Ferrari, 2023; Dobson and Ferrari, 2021) and the development of concepts such as the ‘just anchor’ (O’Farrell et al, 2022) we invite proposals that examine the conditions under which civic activity can flourish and generate lasting impacts.

We wish to pay particular attention to the ‘who’ of civic activity, identifying the key actors on whose work civic impact depends on and the organisational and governance ecosystems that enable such work to deliver place-based economic and social benefits and lead to wider regional transformation.

With a view to stimulating an international exchange of experience, research and emerging practice, we invite proposals from beyond the UK as well as from UK-based institutions.

We especially welcome submissions on any of the following themes:
– Responses to the domains of the Civic Impact Framework (Dobson and Ferrari, 2021) or comparable assessment tools;
– Perspectives from outside the academy (for example, from municipal or community partners);
– Perspectives from management and professional services within universities as well as academics;
– Perspectives from marginalised and subaltern voices who may be excluded or sidelined within current civic agendas;
– Findings from relevant recent or emerging empirical research

Please send proposals in the form of an abstract of 250 – 300 through the Regional Studies Association’s Abstract Portal selecting ‘SS14: Beyond ‘What Works’ Who Works, How and at what Scales for the Civic University’

If you would like to discuss your abstract first, please contact Femi Owolade and Matthew Guest at Sheffield Hallam University (f.owolade@shu.ac.uk and M.Guest@shu.ac.uk) before 13 December 2024.

Session Organsiers: 

Peter Karl Kresl, Buckknell University, United States
Ed Blakely, University of California, Berkeley
Erwin van Tuijl, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Mattia Bertin, University of Architecture luav, Italy

Session Description:

Introduction
The issues regarding competition among cities are distinctive and of pressing interest for the near future. The fact that they are so numerous and so distinctive makes it difficult for them to form collaborative groups for collective action. In this Session, we will focus on five of the elements that we find most pressing for mid-sized cities. First, how do we define the mid-sized city? Second, how does a mid-sized city succeed in competition? Third, what options does a mid-sized city have to do to enhance, or regain, its competitive ranking if it has begun to deteriorate? Fourth, in what ways do mid-sized cities distinguish themselves from larger and smaller cities? Finally, can these mid-sized cities be considered to be the core of the national economy? We will focus or analysis on cities in a small number of cities in Australia, the United States and Europe.

Peter Karl Kresl
Strategies for achieving mid-sized city competitiveness.

In this paper I will treat the issue of mid-sized cities in the US and their strategies to achieve success in global competition. I will focus in detail on the experiences of five or more mid-sized cities, the issues that have generated their competitive difficulty and the strategies they have pursued to regain or enhance their competitiveness. Size determines much of what they can reasonably hope to achieve, and each city is distinctive in its capacity, its reach, and its reasonable aspirations. With the macro environment being similar for all of the cities being considered, the distinctive qualities and experiences of each will be easier to identify and to study.

Ed Blakely
Creating a Second Primary City: Parramatta.

Parramatta, located in Western Sydney, is poised to become a second-prime city within the Greater Sydney metropolitan area. This transformation is part of a strategic urban planning initiative aimed at not only decentralizing economic activity and alleviating pressure on Sydney’s central business district, but also generating a new national competitive innovation center to diversify the Australian national economy from raw natural resources to a globally competitive knowledge economic hub. This ambitious project not only addresses the challenges of population growth and urban sprawl but also promises to create a more balanced and sustainable urban landscape for Australia’s largest city.

Mattia Bertin
Preventive repositioning of the settled city

Although extreme events are expected in medium-sized cities and regions, and despite knowing which fabrics will be affected, there is still speculation about adaptive models for defending the existing built environment. The issues of protecting consolidated urban fabrics to maintain the quality and beauty of urban life are considered to be of primary interest both in urbanism and the law. Retreat and planned demolition are considered unacceptable options. Equally, however, these urban systems are highly prone to extreme events related to Climate Change and if maintained in their current form, will become uninhabitable. The contribution describes the thematic cores where innovation and urban design are most needed to rebalance life and memory, focusing in particular on the historic Italian cities of Vicenza, Padua and Venice.

Erwin van Tujil
Installers and just twin transitions in Gothenburg and Rotterdam

The study contributes to wider debates on the twin transition towards a green and digital future, and challenges linked to inclusive energy transitions and energy poverty. We put installers, firms that install, maintain and repair the backbones of our energy- and heating infrastructures, in the centre of our analysis. These smaller firms have received limited attention among academic researchers and policy makers. We combine urban and regional literature on smart and inclusive cities and platform urbanism with that on just sustainability transitions and frugal innovation. We study two case studies of installers and policies in the medium-sized cities of Gothenburg (Sweden) and Rotterdam (The Netherlands).

The Five Presenters
We will offer our conclusions and observations with regard to the challenges and opportunities of mid-sized cities and regions in the competitive environment of the near future.

Session Organiser:

Michael Howcroft, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom

Session Description:

‘Civic’ has varied meanings, histories, and practices across places, cultures and identities. For Paul Lichterman and Nina Eliasoph (2014), it invokes democracy, solidarity and participation and is found in everyday action. For Chris Philo (2015), investigating the civic is to consider what makes people feel connected to, or associated with, something larger than themselves: an assembly of ‘others’, a ‘community’ or a ‘society’, and with a collective sense of place. Civics can be imagined and enacted across different spatial scales: by ‘local’ people in places that matter to them, to the transcontinental flows of migrants and refugees, and attempts at European, African, Latin and other transnational citizenships. To research civics is to explore the moments when peoples and places have (or have not) cultivated such connectedness. This process, and its implied constructions of power and authority, can be exclusionary as well as radically disruptive.

In the U.K, ‘civic’ is an outdated, troubling term, tainted by Imperialism, Colonialism and Victorian paternalism. Austerity and the withdrawal of the state have brought the civic roles and agendas of universities and arts organisations into renewed focus, and the concept of ‘private social infrastructure’ has blurred the boundaries of public and commercial ‘goods’. Elsewhere, however, the collective practice of ‘civic imagining’ (e.g. Gianpaolo Baiocchi and colleagues, 2015) has sparked and sustained community action across the United States and in places as diverse as Bologna, Oaxaca, and Freetown Sierra Leone. For Ashis Nandy, we must go “outside textuality” and conventional concepts of the civic if we are to reveal “the powerful, long- term political and cultural forces defining what is forgettable and what must be forgotten” in place. Jenny Hughes (2023) proposes an “egalitarian modality of civic culture – one that centres alterity and otherness, fragility and care, and the unruly and unregulated”.

In the spirit of fostering a research community around these concepts, approaches and problems, we invite papers to question:

• If ‘civic’ is a limiting frame, what alternatives exist, can or have been created?
• If the concept needs critical re-framing to redefine or recuperate it – or should it be relegated?
• How, and by what forces or actors, have civic cultures been changed or sustained?
• What are the cultural specificities of the civic? How is the concept understood and enacted beyond the Anglosphere and do comparative methodologies exist?
• How civic identities intersect with other social and political identities and practices?
• How the ‘civic’ meets with policy and if political interventions can be evaluated by their impact on civic cultures and realms?
• What are the contemporary methodological and ethical approaches to researching the civic?

Session Organisers: 

Benjamin Cornejo Costas, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Dima Yankova, Corvinus University, Hungary
Eduardo Hernández Rodriguez, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Martina Pardy, LSE, UK

Session Description:

This session is part of SPRINT the RSA Research Network on Smart Policies for Regional Innovation, Sustainability and Transitions (SPRINT).

The Research Network on Smart Policies for Regional Innovation, Sustainability and Transitions (SPRINT) calls for speakers for the special session “Place-based approaches to regional development and sustainability” at the Regional Studies Association Annual Conference 2025.

In a time characterised by swift technological progress and major global challenges, the importance of place-based regional innovation policies in tackling sustainability and inequality issues is becoming more crucial. This special session explores the significant connections between innovation, sustainability, and economic development.

We encourage submissions from all relevant disciplines offering insights around the following key themes for discussion:
* Place-based regional innovation
* Policies Fostering Sustainable Development
* Sustainable regional development strategies
* Twin transitions
* Regional green diversification and green economic development
* Impact of digital transformation on regional development
* Case studies of successful place-based policy implementations
* Measuring the impact of regional policies on sustainability

Session Organisers:

Michael Howarth, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Madeleine Eriksson, Umeå University, Sweden

Session Description:

This Edgy Matters special session is convened by EdgeNet, the RSA’s research network on peripheral places and regions. We aim to convene critical conversations among a growing community of researchers who are working to reinvigorate the study of peripherality within (and beyond) regional studies. To be marginal is to have limited agency at the edge of core spaces of political life – but also to forge identities, find empowerment, and articulate values. How might social, economic and geographic “margins” represent new fronts for transformative thinking and action? What does “edgy” mean as a characteristic of places, people and processes in the twenty-first century?

We invite papers that engage with questions of peripherality, broadly conceived, and challenge the social, cultural, spatial, economic, environmental, and temporal inter-relationships that shape how peripheries are imagined, governed, lived and felt. We are especially interested in ‘edgy’ contributions that bring fresh methodological and conceptual insights, or introduce new areas and ideas to RSA audiences. Perspectives ‘from the margins’ and scholars who may themselves feel ‘on the edge’ of regional studies are also warmly welcomed.

Potential topics might include:

• ‘Edgy’ examples of social, cultural and political change in non-core areas
• Role of peripheral spaces and non-cores in broader national sustainability transitions, or in response to global challenges
• Theorisations of lived, felt and/or imagined peripheralism (e.g. rural, remote, post-industrial, topological, peripheries-within-cores).
• Reinterpreting the relationships between cores and peripheries.
• Peripheries as spaces of exploitation, extraction, collaboration, and innovation.
• Peripherality in territorial policy, place-based policy and sustainable developmental pathways.
• Local economic futures and territorial well-being in peripheral places

Session Organisers:

Heather Hall, University of Waterloo, Canada
Sarah-Patricia Breen, Selkirk College, Canada
Kelly Vodden, Memorial University, Canada
Joelena Leader, University of Saskatchewan, Canada

Session Details:

Major mining companies around the world are investing in new technologies, autonomous equipment, and remote-controlled operations. There is also a growing movement to understand how these technologies are changing the mining sector and, as a result, the ways in which the mining industry interacts with individuals and communities (McNab and Garcia-Vasquez 2011). The nature and extent of this disruption varies globally, with significant implications for rural, remote, and northern communities. Similarly, the extent of the academic literature varies regionally, with regards to different technologies being adopted and varying impacts on people and places (Gruenhagen & Parker, 2020; Ediriweera & Wiewiora, 2021).

To better understand these trends, impacts, and variations in place and space, we welcome contributions around the following themes:
– Technology types
– Drivers and barriers of technology adoption
– Impacts on employment and workforce development
– Impacts on regional and business development
– Responses from regional rights holders (e.g., Indigenous peoples) and actors (e.g., government, industry, and post secondary institutions)

This session is organized by the Canadian Remote Controlled research team, which is a 5- year project exploring technology adoption in the Canadian mining industry, one of the regions where there are substantive gaps in the existing literature. The session will include presentations from this cross-Canada exploration of disruptive technology in the mining sector and its implications for rural regions. More specifically, it will provide insights on the technologies being adopted, the potential impacts (including opportunities and challenges) on workforce development and business development as well as innovative responses to these impacts. We welcome other speakers whose projects align with the above mentioned themes.

Session Organiser:

Simona Epasto, University of Macerata, Italy

Session Description:

In an era of profound global transformations, geopolitical dynamics and technological innovation are redefining North-South relations, with significant impacts on regional development. The session “Geopolitics, Decentralization, and Digital Transformation: North-South Dynamics in Regional Development” aims to explore how decentralization processes and the adoption of digital technologies are reshaping the geopolitical landscape, contributing to new forms of interdependence and governance challenges between the Global North and South.
The growing diffusion of technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence is promoting more decentralized development models, leading to a redefinition of power relations and new opportunities for Southern economies. However, unequal access to these technologies and existing infrastructural challenges often amplify inequalities. This session seeks to analyse the role of emerging technologies and decentralization processes in the geopolitical and regional development dynamics.
Furthermore, this session explores the role of science diplomacy as a bridge between the North and South to foster scientific and technological cooperation. We will examine how international scientific collaborations can support decentralization, facilitate digital transformation, and strengthen regional resilience in the face of global challenges such as sustainability, energy security, and public health.

We invite contributions addressing:

– Theoretical and empirical analyses on the impact of decentralization and digital innovation on North-South geopolitical relations and regional development;
– Case studies illustrating how digital technologies are transforming specific regions or countries within the North-South context;
– Explorations of the interplay between digital transformations, decentralization, and geopolitics;
– Assessments of the impact of technological inequalities on economic and social development in Southern regions;
– Discussions on innovative methodologies for analysing the geopolitical impact of digitalization and decentralization.

This session provides a platform to delve into the role of digitalization, decentralization, and science diplomacy in North-South geopolitical relations, offering participants a unique opportunity to contribute to a deeper understanding of these complex and dynamic transformations.

Session Organisers:

Peter Dannenberg, University of Cologne, Germany
Franziska Sielker, TU Wien, Austria

Session Description:

In recent years, the geopolitical disruptions and military conflicts have exposed the vulnerabilities of trade and the fragility of critical infrastructure across regions. This session will explore the need for a new economic geography of war that examines how military conflicts, geopolitical tensions, and crises influence among others key logistic corridors, critical trade and value chains, resources, products, and investments (including debates around friend shoring etc.). Presenters are encouraged to bring forward case studies and empirical analyses that deepen our understanding of how conflict and crisis reshape trade routes, resource flows, and regional economic stability. By augmenting economic geography, with the outlined perspectives, this session seeks to chart new directions for an economic geography in times of geopolitical and military crises.

Session Organisers:

Ridvan Cinar, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway
Maria Tsouri Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway
Liliana Fonseca, University of Strathclyde, UK

Session Description:

Over the past four decades, universities have been recognized as significant actors in fostering regional innovation and contributing into local development in places where they are located. Earlier conceptualizations of the role of universities in innovation and regional development emphasized commercialization activities, technology transfer, investing in start-ups and technological innovation, which usually manifests within entrepreneurial university. More recently, however, they are also expected to play a proactive role in regional sustainability transformations and move beyond an understanding of third mission that is based strictly on techno-economic rationality. In particular, they are expected to collaborate with broader segments of stakeholders (public institutions, NGOs, SMEs etc.) and contribute into different types of innovation (e.g., social, green, public sector etc.) as well. Such contributions indicate a more developmental role and have been framed as part of transformative or engaged university. While new demands have emerged out of several complex societal sustainability challenges, the emphasis on older demands has not lost its validity and legitimacy. This raises the question of how universities are coping with such proliferation of institutional and policy demands, why they prioritize certain demands over others and how they adapt to the recent demands particularly relating to regional sustainability transformation in core and non-core regions.

Hence, this session welcomes all presentations that address the role of the universities in regional sustainability transformation processes in different types of regions. We welcome both quantitative and qualitative approaches on this subject, which may address (but not limited to) the following topics:
· Theoretical, conceptual and/or empirical research on the nature of ongoing regional sustainability transformations and the role of universities in such processes,
· Identifying the role of higher education institutions in regional and transformative innovation policies,
· Evolving from entrepreneurial to engaged/transformative university model,
· Why and how universities legitimize and prioritize certain regional societal demands over others,
· How universities drive quadruple helix collaborations in core and non-core regions,
· How universities contribute into green reskilling of various industries,
. Reskilling and upskilling geared towards digital transition

Session Organisers:

Michael Glass, University of Pittsburgh, USA
Jen Nelles, Oxford Brookes University, UK
Jean-Paul Addie, Georgia State University, USA

Session Description:

This session evaluates the relationships between inclusive regional transformation and infrastructure investment. A recent OECD report on ‘inclusive infrastructure’ argues that infrastructure is fundamental for fostering regional economic development and wellbeing, and that contemporary policy should look to closing ‘infrastructure investment gaps’ that exacerbate regional inequality (OECD 2024). Thinking regionally about infrastructure—an approach we term ‘infrastructural regionalism’ (Addie, Glass, & Nelles 2020)—provides a framework to understand how infrastructural development and regional space are interlinked, and how they combine to shape new regional futures. We invite papers that evaluate the relationships between infrastructural investment, inclusiveness, and regional growth. Relevant themes include, but are not limited to:
** The role of multi-scalar governance in supporting infrastructure projects that enhance long-term development plans with community aspirations. What are the planning tools and frameworks that ensure beneficial community consequences of investment?
** The capacity of public-private partnerships to coordinate for beneficial outcomes across the regional scale. How are projects delivered that comport with the needs of local communities?
** Conceptual approaches to understanding the intersections between infrastructural investment and inclusive growth. Can infrastructure be inclusive?
** Case studies and comparative analysis of regional infrastructure projects that were effective in surmounting notable investment gaps.

This session is supported by the Regional Studies Association Research Network on Infrastructural Regionalisms (NOIR). To find out more about NOIR, visit the network’s website (www.noir-rsa.com) and follow us on Twitter/X @NOIR_RSA.

Best,

Michael, Jen, and Jean-Paul

Session Organsiers:

Phil Tomlinson, School of Management, University of Bath, UK
Felicia Fai, School of Management, University of Bath, UK
David Bailey, Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, UK

Session Description:

Industrial policy is back in vogue (Bailey et al., 2023; De Propris, 2024). At the macro-level, policymakers have emphasised the importance of (and begun to implement) so-called mission led industrial policies to meet societal challenges, such as climate change and the transition to net-zero technologies (Mazzucato, 2021). This is evident with the Biden administration in the USA; the Inflation Reduction Act (2022) and CHIPS & Science Act (2022) committed over $2 trillion of funding to support the US healthcare, renewables, and clean-tech sectors (Gansauer, 2024). The EU’s response is a $250 billion Green Deal Industrial Plan, and the by-passing of state-aid rules to fast-track investment and skills upgrading in green sectors. Procurement policies are also being re-geared to support domestic manufacturing. In the UK, the new ‘mission-driven’ government also has ambitions for green technologies, to encourage greater resilience, and ensure security of supply in manufacturing supply chains ‘securonomics’ (The Financial Times, 21/5/24).

While these policies are touted as ‘mission led’, there are concerns the interventions represent a new era of protectionist trade policies, which are likely to have disruptive and displacement effects – with winners and losers – that play out at regional levels. There are also fears that mission-led policies are top-down (Henderson et al., 2023), highly selective, technology-policy focused, with insufficient consideration of differential regional impacts. Regions with existing capabilities, enhanced knowledge bases, skillsets and specialisms, and business and social networks may be in a better position to benefit from ‘mission-led’ initiatives. This will have implications for addressing (existing) regional inequalities. Local policymakers and place leaders will need to adjust place-based policies to ensure their region can take advantage of central government initiatives. Balancing efficiency and equity in the design and implementation of mission-led policy presents national and regional policymakers with significant challenges. Yet knowledge of the socio-economic regional impacts of mission-led policies are lacking and, as such, are typically ignored in national policy discourses.

These contemporary and salient issues are underexplored in the regional studies literature. This special session is associated with a forthcoming special issue of Regional Studies (https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/mission-led-industrial-policies-and-regional-development/) and seeks abstracts
to explore these, (and related) issues which specifically consider how regions and regional policymakers can better align their place-based policy agendas to deliver regional development within the wider social and economic contexts of the new ‘mission-led’ industrial policies pursued by national and supranational states.

Session Organisers:

Cauê Rios, University of Porto, Portugal
Filipa Corais, University of Minho/Head of Mobility Department of Municipality of Braga, Portugal

Session Description:

Urban mobility is a key domain in pursuing sustainable transitions, yet it faces persistent challenges rooted in deeply ingrained unsustainable behaviours, both among the general population and within institutional structures. A dual focus on societal behaviour change and institutional transformations is essential to achieve a paradigm shift towards sustainable urban mobility. This session invites contributions exploring practical approaches to fostering these shifts, focusing on empirical applications and critical reflections on sustainability transition theories, frameworks, and methodologies.
We are particularly interested in case studies or applied research that investigates how transition theories or other frameworks within the socio-technical transitions field have been employed to address behavioural change in urban mobility. Submissions may examine one or more of the following themes:

Behavioural Change in Civil Society:
Strategies to promote sustainable mobility practices among citizens.
Impacts of social innovation, advocacy, and grassroots movements on urban mobility transitions.
Insights into the challenges and opportunities of engaging diverse societal groups in co-creating sustainable mobility solutions.

Institutional Change and Planning Practices:
Applications of sustainability transition frameworks to transform institutional structures and urban planning practices.
Empirical accounts of how planners, policymakers, and other institutional actors integrate transition tools into their work.
Critical reflections on the role of governance, power dynamics, and institutional resistance in shaping the trajectory of sustainable mobility transitions.

Bridging Theory and Practice:
Case studies demonstrating the application of transition methodologies in real-world mobility projects.
Methodological innovations or adaptations that enhance the practical utility of transition theories.
Evaluation of the outcomes and limitations of applied transition tools in urban mobility contexts.

We welcome a range of methodological approaches, from qualitative and quantitative research to participatory action research and mixed methods. The session aims to foster a rich dialogue between researchers and practitioners, creating a platform to share insights, challenges, and lessons learned from practical applications of transition theories in urban mobility.
Innovative formats, such as roundtables or interactive discussions, may be included to enhance engagement and facilitate knowledge exchange. Contributions that provide comparative insights or engage with underexplored geographies, particularly those in the Global South, are especially encouraged.
Through this session, we seek to advance our understanding of how sustainability transition frameworks can bridge the gap between theory and practice in urban mobility, fostering meaningful change across societal and institutional levels

Session Organisers:

Carolin Ioramashvili, University of Sussex, UK
Raquel Ortega-Argiles, University of Manchester, UK

Session Description:

Related variety and growth-complexity theories suggest that past events heavily influenced growth processes. Diversification is critical, but too much relatedness or diversity can facilitate or limit productivity growth. A region’s ability to transition to other growth trajectories depends on the coherence of its capabilities. Regions can become ‘locked in’ to historical productivity growth trajectories. Breaking these patterns of transition to higher productivity growth is critical but challenging without a deep understanding of a region’s past, present and future evolutionary processes.

The papers in this special session analyse regional diversification and related variety from different methodological and data perspectives. We will look into the knowledge composition of places by analysing labour market dynamism (employee mobility), in-demand skill composition (job advertising data), and their association with regional productivity growth. Secondly, looking at unconventional and underdeveloped technological activities (patent information), we analyse non-conventional and unrelated knowledge branching and their short and long-term growth potential. Finally, we exploit new methodologies on natural language processing to evaluate the diffusion and adoption of new processes of knowledge and technology (machine learning in websites).

Session contributors and speakers
Carolin Ioramashvili & Maria Savona
Alexandra Badort, Bernardo Caldarola & Tommaso Ciarli
Silvia Rocchetta
Raquel Ortega-Argiles, Gloria Cicerone & Pei-Yu Yuan

Session Organisers:

Jurga Bucaite Vilke, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania
Anna Uster, The Max Stern Yezreel Valley College, Israel
Judit Kalman, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary

Session Description:

This session aims to foster a critical debate on adaptive governance models that respond to diverse regional challenges, including socio-demographic, cultural and economic ones. In response to multifaceted societal challenges and failures of state authority, the discussion on the importance of adapting governance approaches and policies to meet local needs and improve community well-being is more relevant. This session will explore how governance, leadership and institutional frameworks are adapting to the rapid changes affecting regions, cities and places today.
Key topics include the challenges of top-down policy implementation versus bottom-up local initiatives that seek to address inclusive socio-demographic and economic needs. We are also interested in scholarship that explores collaborative governance and the impact of multi-level governance networks on regional needs. How do central government policies align (or not) with the specific needs of municipalities, local NGOs, and other local actors? How effective are existing collaborative practices in addressing local governance issues related to welfare, sustainability or economic development? What lessons can be learned from successful collaborations between different levels of government and external stakeholders in addressing these regional complexities? We encourage submissions that address the tensions between national policy frameworks and local quality of life needs, providing examples of successful or challenging adaptations of top-down policies to regional or local contexts.
We welcome submissions from diverse disciplines, including political science, regional studies, sociology, public administration, and regional economics. Papers should present empirical research or city/region/municipality case studies from Europe and beyond that contribute to the understanding the role of tailored governance and impact of institutional change in regional transformations.

Session Organisers:

Lisann Schmidt, University of Greifswald, Germany
Judith Alms, University of Greifswald, Germany
Vassilis Kitsos University of Greifswald, Germany

Session Description:

This session explores the social and institutional changes taking place in rural areas with regard to broader regional transformations. Situated at the intersection of traditional structures and innovative approaches, the ´rural´ is here broadly understood, and its transformation is viewed from within. Instead of considering the ´rural´ as a receptor of changes happening elsewhere, we suggest an approach in which ongoing rural dynamics are central to the development of new political economies and, thus, to a future regional studies agenda also. We are interested in topics such as:

Rural actors and transnational challenges
How do locally embedded actors and organizations envision development for rural areas, and what are their action trajectories? How do they assess the all-encompassing global challenges of our time? We are interested in their specific roles and the challenges they face, as well as in the study of networks, synergies, mutual learning or contesting structures.

Innovations and policy mobilities in rural contexts
What do innovation breakthroughs imply for the ´rural´? How does the transformation of, for example, fiscal policy, welfare provision, spatial planning or cross-border structures strengthen or hinder the resilience of a rural area? We are interested in accounts of the impact of such changing policy landscapes and policy mobilities across rural, regional and inter-regional settings.

The session aims to offer a nuanced perspective on multi-scalar rural transformations and welcomes contributions that offer both conceptual and empirical perspectives.