#Europe’s prosperity hinges less on shiny sectors than on building on its #skills & potential base. As Tessarin, @ronboschma.bsky.social, @lideyu.bsky.social & Petralia show in @cjres.bsky.social, #regions thrive when dense, high-skill ecosystems reinforce themselves. doi.org/10.1093/cjre...

#Europe’s future won’t be forged in #capitals alone. It lies in Mainz, Skellefteå or Arteixo. Yet, these places are falling through the cracks: too rich for cohesion, too dull for #innovation strategies. Centralisation is not the #EU’s best strategy doi.org/10.1177/0969... doi.org/10.1080/0034...

Turns out #governance matters more than growth when Russian tanks arrive. In a fascinating new @econgeog-journal.bsky.social of two occupied towns in #Ukraine, Grillitsch, Cabral Cobos & Horvat show that transparency & civic engagement are the key to recovery & #resilience. doi.org/10.1080/0013...

A continent that once bound regions together, tethering Brussels to its citizens, may soon devolve into national silos. As @profgviesti.bsky.social warns, #cohesion is slow and imperfect, but it is shared & democratic. eticaeconomia.it/una-scompars... doi.org/10.1177/0969... doi.org/10.1080/0034...

Read my commentary in European Urban and Regional Studies on the EU budget proposal. #Brussels sells centralisation as “efficiency.” But it risks silencing the very local voices that make Europe whole, turning European #citizens from shapers of #Europe into mere spectators. doi.org/10.1177/0969...

Natural disasters test not just nature’s force but Europe’s governance. Next Tuesday Eric Neumayer, Maria Dolores Pitarch Garrido and I will ask: why do some regions recover while others decline? Chaired by Simona Iammarino 🔗 www.lse.ac.uk/canada-blanc...

Is the notion of ‘left-behind’ regions is yesterday’s diagnosis? For Bassens, Froud, Johal & Williams in @dialogueshg.bsky.social, security is no longer the preserve of the middle-class postcode. Foundational precarity is now the daily lot of many even in rich places. doi.org/10.1177/2043...

The vanguard of the #UK’s #climate #transition lies not in #Westminster but in places like #Lancaster, #Renfrewshire & North #Kesteven. Golubchikov, Shahab & Haupt show in Applied Geography what strategic will in the periphery can achieve in terms of #NetZero. doi.org/10.1016/j.ap...

Policy #reform should renew, not just replicate. My new @cjres.bsky.social paper with Han Wang uncovers that reforms lead to sharp rises in new #firm registrations, with the biggest gains accruing in #cities with weaker starting conditions. doi.org/10.1093/cjre...

Thank you very much, @rodriguez-pose.bsky.social, for the inaugural lecture of the @ucm.es Geography PhD program. A highly relevant topic and a fantastic presentation! #Europe #Euroscepticism #growth @gge-age.bsky.social @age-geografia.bsky.social @regionalstudies.bsky.social

Who’s the GOAT: #Messi or #Ronaldo? It depends: do you value flawless execution or redefining team #productivity? Cordero & Santin ask in Omega the real question: "who made their team better?" and offer a model that captures the contrast. Find the answer here: doi.org/10.1016/j.om...

Para los que se quieran pasar por la Fundación Ramón Areces esta tarde.

The #DutchElections offered Europe a rare reprieve. The #Netherlands did not lurch to extremes but revolted against chaos. The #D66 liberals surged but #GeertWilders' PVV remains a formidable force. The question now: can the centre earn its second chance? doi.org/10.1080/0013...

In #Europe some regions are sprinting towards net zero, others remain mired in the footprints of an industrial past. @bourdinseb.bsky.social & Perrot in @cjres.bsky.social show that #decarbonisation demands diversification, institutional grit & a refusal to tread old paths. doi.org/10.1093/cjre...

#Entrepreneurship flourishes not in chaos, but in places where the rules are clear and agencies predictable. Han Wang & I find in our new @cjres.bsky.social article that better #business environments seed #innovation. Good #institutions are the best industrial policy. doi.org/10.1093/cjre...

Thirty years ago today, I first walked into the LSE, nervous, smooth-faced & unsure whether I'd last the three years of my contract, to start a new life. The LSE —a place that can simultaneously fascinate & frustrate but ultimately fulfil— has shaped me as a person. For that, I am deeply grateful.

Innovation doesn’t thrive under suspicion, but the chill of the political extremes is seeping into Europe’s labs. As Zhuoying You, Peter Teirlinck & I show in Research Policy, where support for the political extremes rises, #research & #innovation weaken. doi.org/10.1016/j.re...

Grants may not be the best way for left-behind places to thrive. They need institutions that stay. Mita Marra, in Sustainability, recasts #universities as civic #infrastructure: educators, translators & conveners, not mere transmitters of imported know-how doi.org/10.3390/su17...

#Europe’s periphery is no longer chasing the core but composing its own future. Anabela Santos & @conteandrea.bsky.social in Global Challenges and Regional Studies, show how #green #growth is emerging #region by region. doi.org/10.1016/j.gc...

La #soledad tiene dos caras: la elegida, que fomenta autonomía y dinamismo; y la sentida, que frena la innovación y desgaja la sociedad. De este frágil equilibrio pende el bienestar. Hablaré del contraste en la @fundacionareces.bsky.social Jueves 30 oct, 19:00 www.fundacionareces.es/fundacionare...

From #London to #Budapest, the pattern repeats. #Brexit has weakened the #UK’s economy (www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...), while across #Europe the further voters go to the extremes, the more growth slips from their grasp (publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/h...). #Populism’s dividend is decline.

#Europe’s problem isn’t a lack of genius, but a failure to use it. A continent can’t compete when half its regions are treading water. #Europe’s future lies in mobilising all its latent talent, not just focusing on the prosperous few. doi.org/10.1080/0034...

#Green transitions are billed as fair and forward-looking. But as @suyashjolly.bsky.social, Asheim, @maximilianbenner.bsky.social, @giuseppecalignano.bsky.social, Eadson, Gong & @trondnilsen1976.bsky.social warn, #transitions stripped of justice breed resistance, not renewal. doi.org/10.1016/j.pe...

Topping global rankings for research in regional and urban planning is flattering. But I am prouder of LSE Geography. Nine of us in the world’s top 50,000—a testament to collective grit over solitary stardom. www.lse.ac.uk/geography-an... elsevier.digitalcommonsdata.com/datasets/btc... topscinet.com

Euroscepticism sells freedom & prosperity but delivers stagnation. My new working paper with Dijkstra & Dorati shows that #EU regions courting #Euroscepticism suffer lower #growth and weaker #productivity & #job creation. Protest is a costly habit. publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/h...

Congratulations to Dr Till Meißner (@tillytales.bsky.social) on a superb PhD, supervised by Riccardo Crescenzi & myself and a great discussion with examiners Nicola Coniglio & Thomas Farole during his defence. Till's thesis traces how global value chains can empower African economies.

#Europe faces not a choice between #efficiency and #equity but the need to reconcile both if it wants to become more competitive. As I argue in my new @regionalstudies.bsky.social paper, a more centralised #EU will thin its own strength by silencing its citizens' voices. doi.org/10.1080/0034...

Our society’s prosperity hinges on how we manage the #solitude epidemic. Join me on Oct 30 at 7pm at @fundacionareces.bsky.social (in collaboration with LSE) as we explore how loneliness & aloneness shape #Europe’s economic future. Don't miss it. Register here: www.fundacionareces.es/fundacionare...

The @MayorofLondon is seeking fresh minds for the Young Professionals Panel—a rare chance to shape the city’s future. Ideal for LSE LED, RUPS & IP wonks with skin in the game. If you want to help improve #London, find out more and apply here: www.london.gov.uk/programmes-s...

#Brussels can’t roll out innovation like it does broadband. According to Mehmet Pinar & Burhan Can Karahasan in Technology in Society, #innovation rewards regions already primed but bites in vulnerable areas. The North/West soar, the South/East stall. doi.org/10.1016/j.te...

Competitiveness thrives on cohesion, not concentration. My brand new article in @regionalstudies.bsky.social makes the case for unlocking #Europe’s full potential, wherever it can be found, as #cohesion is the foundation of #competitivenes, not its antithesis. doi.org/10.1080/0034...

#Czechia re-elects #Babiš. The map tells the tale: #Prague holds out, towns & rural areas—where status, jobs & faith have faded—swing. Brussels should invest in the places time forgot or brace for irrelevance. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... doi.org/10.1093/cjre... www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

To hollow out #cohesion is to erode the #EU’s credibility from within. In my brand new @regionalstudies.bsky.social paper, I argue that #Europe’s competitiveness and very viability depends less on emulating competitors and more on exploiting our latent potential. DOI: doi.org/10.1080/0034...

#Maps are the essence of #geography. Designed poorly, they silence data; designed well, they communicate powerfully and attract lots of attention. Read @jakobeder.bsky.social @regstud.bsky.social blog on why graphicacy matters: www.regionalstudies.org/rsa-blog/202...

Economists, unlike pop stars, seldom chart. Geographers only chart maps😀. But I've slipped in at No.11 on @Favikon_ UK list; proof that algorithms reward the inexplicable. A fleeting honour, but a reminder: #economics matters most when it speaks to place. www.favikon.com/blog/top-eco...

Innovation in #Europe’s periphery is less about #patents than practice. Progress comes from #firms that improvise, adapt, and share know-how in #networks of #trust as shown by Christoph Friedrich & Rolf Sternberg in their new Regional Science Policy & Practice article: doi.org/10.1016/j.rs...

The LSE MSc in Regional and Urban Planning has shaped generations of planners. Now it seeks new blood and new ideas: an Assistant and Associate Professor to guide the future of #urban and #regional #planning. Ambition and scholarship required. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOT477/a...

#Canada’s prosperity has blind spots. Whole areas of the country are rendered invisible by a politics that ignores place. Sleeth, Riva, @kmanaugh.bsky.social & Breau show in Growth and Change how #deprivation accumulates in Canada´s forgotten rural, northern & suburban areas. doi.org/10.1111/grow...

The myth of an EU-hating #countryside may be overstated. Research by @pmaneuvre.bsky.social, @leoazzollini.bsky.social & Anne-Marie Jeannet in @electoralstudies.bsky.social shows that #EU structural funds investment has nurtured trust in the Union across #Europe's rural areas doi.org/10.1016/j.el...

PhD fellowship in #Innovaton and #Regional Studies at @unistavanger.bsky.social. Study the #Green Transition and its implications. Join RENOVATE, where true intellectual calibre meets genuine collegiality and warmth. Deadline for applications: 16 Oct. Full info: www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

The geography of #decarbonisation is uneven: vulnerability clusters, preparedness is patchy, responsiveness varies. @sbaumgartinger.bsky.social, @balazspager.bsky.social & @michaelatrippl.bsky.social address these contrasts in CEE in their new Economic Geography paper. doi.org/10.1080/0013...

Regional #convergence in #Europe is not a single queue but a set of clubs. @kamilaborsekova.bsky.social, @Samuel Korony & Martin Kahanec, writing in @economyandspace.bsky.social, show labour markets —not #GDP per head— as the truer lens. doi.org/10.1177/0308...

#Cohesion policy is #Europe’s glue, binding regions and citizens to an idea. To fold it into national plans is less reform than nationalisation in disguise. It is like pouring solvent on fragile trust My @feps-europe.eu Progressive Post article: feps-europe.eu/cohesion-nee... doi.org/10.1080/0013...

💰 🇪🇺The #MFF is not just a question of figures, but of methodology & criteria, This week's ProgPost dossier analyses the MFF's potential negative impact on the EU's #CohesionPolicy & #JustTransition. 🖊️ Kata Tutto @rodriguez-pose.bsky.social & Olivier Vardakoulias 🗞️ feps-europe.eu/dossier/the-...

The Nordic ideal of territorial #equality falters where it matters. As Lehtonen et al show in the Journal of Rural Studies, #Finland's public #investment props up #cities, while peripheries are pacified by subsidies. A politics of neglect in plain sight. doi.org/10.1016/j.jr...

Tourism does not follow the map; it redraws it. In "Economic Geography of Tourism", João Romão reframes #tourism as a force shaping economic space, not merely inhabiting it. Destinations inherit their pasts, but futures can still be forged anew. doi.org/10.1007/978-...

Financial gravity is not fate or destiny: #Bilbao’s refusal to become a financial colony is captured by Gil de San Vicente & @jamierwilson.bsky.social in @compchange.bsky.social, who show how institution-building can let #regions defy the pull of #capital. doi.org/10.1177/1024...

Truly honoured & grateful to receive the Sir Peter Hall Award from @regstud.bsky.social- Please watch the online ceremony here: www.regionalstudies.org/news/2025-rs... Many thanks to the RSA and all who make its intellectual community such a rare and generous thing.

Leading newspapers are noticing my research. Discontent is on the rise. From rural Spain to east Germany, resistance grows. Policy is felt as imposition, not opportunity. @elpais.com: elpais.com/economia/neg... SZ: www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/infr... doi.org/10.1093/cjre... doi.org/10.1093/cjre...

LSE’s Cañada Blanch Centre is inviting applications for its Winter Term 2026 LSE-Miguel Dols Fellowship scheme. Open to all ranks. For those with bright ideas on #inequality, #climate or #democracy, among others, and aims to reshape global debates. 👉 www.lse.ac.uk/canada-blanc...