RSAI has the great pleasure to announce that the jury consisting of  Janice Madden, Carlos Azzoni and Erik Verhoef chose the articles:

Tobias D. Ketterer and Andrés Rodríguez‐Pose, Institutions vs. ‘first-nature’ geography: What drives economic growth in Europe's regions?, published in Volume 97, Issue S1, March 2018, Pages S25-S62;

Motivation: Through an elegant scientific approach, the paper aims to investigate whether differences in institutional and ‘first nature’ geographical conditions have affected economic growth in Europe’s regions in the period 1995–2009. The analysis lies on a newly developed dataset including regional quality of government indicators and geographical characteristics, and arrives to the conclusion that regional institutional conditions – and, particularly, government effectiveness and the fight against corruption – play an important role in shaping regional economic growth prospects.

and

Wen Chen,  Bart Los,  Philip McCann,  Raquel Ortega‐Argilés,  Mark Thissen and Frank van Oort, The continental divide? Economic exposure to Brexit in regions and countries on both sides of The Channel, published in Volume97, Issue1, Special Issue: The trade, geography and regional implications of Brexit, March 2018, Pages 25-54,

Motivation: The paper tackles an important topic like Brexit, and studies the degree to which EU regions and countries are exposed to negative trade‐related consequences of Brexit. We develop an index of this exposure, which incorporates all effects due to geographically fragmented production processes within the UK, the EU and beyond. The paper demonstrates that UK regions are far more exposed than regions in other countries and that this imbalance may influence the outcomes of the negotiations between the UK and the EU.

as the winners of the Martin Beckmann Prize as the best paper published in Papers in Regional Science in 2018.

Call for applications

The Peter Nijkamp Research Encouragement Award

The award recognizes the outstanding potential of a mid-career researcher from a nation in the developing world in which there is a section of RSAI. Conditions for applications are:

Nominees will be judged in part on the evaluation of the paper and in part on an evaluation of the research track record and performance (CV).

The winner(s) will receive support, up to 750 Euro, to participate in a Supra-Regional meeting or in the World Congress, at which the paper will be presented.

The jury will comprise the Immediate Past-President of RSAI as Chair, an Editor of Papers in Regional Science, and two RSAI Fellows.

Deadline for the applications: November 30, 2019

(An eligible mid-career researcher from an eligible developing nation may submit a paper and their CV to the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for consideration for the Award at any time up to the end of November of that year).

Dear PRSCO 2019 Participants:

We would like to make an announcement about Nurturing New Talent 2019 workshops that will be held on July 27, 2019 at Pathumwan Princess Hotel. They are:

Workshop 1 (9:00-12:00): Remote Sensing to Support Research in Regional Science, 
led by Associate Prof. Dr. Gang Chen (University of North Carolina at Charlotte)

Workshop 2 (13:00-17:00): Spatial Agent-Based Modeling, 
led by Associate Prof. Dr. Yuri Mansury (Illinois Institute of Technology)

The workshop is funded by Nurturing New Talent 2019 of the RSAI, Chulalongkorn University, and Thailand Section of the RSAI. The workshop detail is attached and can be found at the conference website.

Presenters at the PRSCO 2019 can attend the workshop at no cost. However, due to limited space available, workshop participants are required to register for the workshop via the link below:

https://forms.gle/AtiTy5MpgfbU4MHs6

The registration is on a first come first serve basis. You will receive a confirmation email if you are successfully registered.

We are looking forward to welcoming you in Bangkok soon!

Sincerely,

PRSCO 2019 Secretariat

Postdoc positions in Xi’an Jiaotong University

Professor Jinfeng DU from the School of Public Policy and Administration at Xi’an Jiaotong University is recruiting 4 postdoc to work on the National Key R&D Program of China on Nature-based solution for urban regeneration and other projects.

Online application website: http://careers.xjtu.edu.cn

Requirements from the supervisor:

1. Research experience relates to the following fields: Nature-based solution and urban regeneration; land policy and land reform; poverty alleviation. Excellent research background in the followings fields could also be considered: urban and rural development; urban and regional analysis; environmental sciences; programming, software and big data; remote sensing and geographic information system; human geography; social cohesion; econometric etc.
2. Good in written and spoken English and Chinese.
3. Good at team work and could finish the research task on time.
4. Support the recipients to apply for national scholarships or grants.

Additional requirements from the University and School:

1. Not older than 35 year old.
2. Graduated from world top 200 university or published at least one high-quality SSCI/SCI indexed paper as first author. 

More information could be found from the following links:

http://hr.xjtu.edu.cn/info/1018/4891.htm#opennewwindow

http://hr.xjtu.edu.cn/info/1018/4890.htm

Please contact Professor Jinfeng DU if necessary.

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Phone: +86-187 2901 1366

The underlying factors of (recent) regional voting patterns 

Explaining spatial patterns of voting behaviour is a very recent and rapidly growing field of research in regional science. Since the rise of more right-wing and/or protest voting, it has become apparent that these votes are not randomly spread over space. An interesting example is the spatial distribution of votes in favour of the Brexit. Most people who voted to leave the EU were located in the middle-east regions of England while the people who preferred to remain in the EU mostly lived in and around London. These voting patterns coincide with geographical patterns of education level; income level and dependence on the manufacturing sector (Becker et al., 2017). Recently, Andres Rodríguez-Pose connected this voting behaviour to a feeling of discontent that is increasing in certain regions and he labelled recent ballot outcomes across the EU as ‘The revenge of the places that don’t matter (2018).

In this special issue, the focus is on underlying factors of regional voting patterns. The territory contains many variables that can help us understand voters' voices about the single currency, migration, budgets, environment, education, health, taxes, life and peace. Can we link voting patterns to discontent, and if so, what is causing this feeling of discontent? Do voting patterns on various topics differ between regions and countries, between urban- and rural regions, and between regions that grow or are in decline? What about space-time patterns? We in particular welcome submissions that focus on causality.

Planning

• Expression of interest until September 15^th 2019
• Full paper submission January 15^th 2020
• Reviews February 2020
• Final paper submission May 2020

Editors: Prof. Eveline van Leeuwen (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) & Dr. Solmaria Halleck-Vega (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), Urban Economics group, Wageningen University

References

Becker, S. O., Fetzer, T., & Novy, D. (2017). Who voted for Brexit? A comprehensive district-level analysis. Economic Policy, 32(92), 601-650.

Rodríguez-Pose, A. (2018). The revenge of the places that don’t matter (and what to do about it). Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 11(1), 189-209.

We have extended the deadline for abstract submissions by a few days. The new extended deadline is Friday, July 5.

Join us in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the 66th North American Meetings of the Regional Science Association International (RSAI) sponsored by the North American Regional Science Council (NARSC).  The conference will be held at the beautiful and historic Omni William Penn Hotel, November 13–16, 2019.  You can learn more about the conference, submit an abstract, and register for the conference and workshops at the NARSC Website at http://www.narsc.org/.

This year the Spatial Econometrics Association (SEA) will be meeting in conjunction with us at the conference hotel. Special registration instructions for those of you who wish to attend the SEA sessions, in addition to the NARSC sessions, are provided below.

Click on the link to the conference section for general information on the conference.  To register for the conference or submit an abstract/session online you must first login to the User Area. If you attended a NARSC conference over the past couple of years or are a member of a North American regional science organization, when you reach the login page of the User Area, you will be asked to enter your provided username and password.  Otherwise, when you reach the login page of the User Area, you will be asked to click on a link and enter your e-mail address so we can check if you are already in our database. If you are in our database, your username and password will be e-mailed to you so you can login. If you are not in our database, you will need to register for a free NARSC user account and then you will be able to register for the conference and submit an abstract.

Once logged, you can change your password, update your profile, submit an abstract/session, register for the conference, and check the status of your registration.  You will be able come to your account in the User Area subsequently using your valid username and password.  In case you forget your password, just contact technical support at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your e-mail address and your password will be e-mailed to you so you can login.

Please note that there is a surcharge for individuals who are not members of RSAI. When you are ready to register for the conference please check your RSAI membership status where you can find a list of current RSAI members - https://www.regionalscience.org/index.php/join-us.html.If you have any questions regarding your RSAI membership status or would like to join RSAI please contact Elisabete Martins (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) at the RSAI Central Office.

As you will see from the website, there is a special registration rate for individuals who wish to attend both the NARSC conference sessions and the sessions organized by the Spatial Econometrics Association (SEA). Alternatively, if you wish, you can register to attend just the NARSC Conference or just the SEA sessions. Those who register for just the SEA sessions will not be able to attend any NARSC sessions and vice-versa. When submitting your abstract please indicate whether you wish to have it considered for inclusion in the SEA sessions. The meeting of the SEA in Pittsburgh will coincide with the launch of the new 'Journal of Spatial Econometrics' that will be published by Springer-Verlag starting from January 2020

Individual papers and organized sessions must be submitted online in the abstract submission section of the website between now and JULY 1, 2019. The conference registration section is open and allows secure electronic financial transactions. Information about the workshops will be posted in late June. If you are potentially interested in attending any workshops it is suggested that you wait until information about them is available before registering for the conference. Be sure to consult the conference website for additional information and details.

Conference organizers welcome individual papers and organized sessions relating to a wide variety of topics that are included within the diverse realm of regional science.  As usual, there will be a number of organized sessions. If you are interested in participating in one of these organized sessions, please contact the session organizers. Details about these can be found at http://www.narsc.org/newsite/conference/special-session-call-for-papers/.

We are an international scholarly organization that focuses on regional analysis, ranging from urban and spatial theory to applied problems in regional development, sustainability, environmental management, and rural land use.  We are an interdisciplinary association, with members representing fields as diverse as economics, agricultural economics, public policy, urban planning, civil engineering, geography, finance, and demography.  The annual North American RSAI conference is the premier regional science meeting in North America and attracts scholars and practitioners from around the world.  

A block of rooms has been reserved at the Omni William Penn at the rate of $185 (plus applicable taxes) for a double-occupancy room. In addition, we have negotiated a special rate for of $119 (plus applicable taxes) for a limited number of student room. These will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please book the conference hotel through the NARSC website.  By doing so, NARSC will get credit for your booking.  Bookings can be made via a link coming soon.

If you have questions, here is contact information:

Local arrangements:

John Sporing (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Program Chair:

Laurie Schintler (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Overall Arrangements
Neil Reid, (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

We look forward to seeing you in Pittsburgh.

This special issue will focus on the challenges of territorialising public policies and on the role of (big) data, information and technologies in planning and regional development. The lack of the territorial dimension in the formulation and implementation of sectoral policies, currently, coexists with efforts to implement decentralized policies. In this context, the development and evaluation of public policies faces an increasing number of challenges, not only because of the multidimensional nature of the problems, but also because of the unpredictability of factors and the way in which they interact. This justifies the need to involve a diversity of actors and knowledge and the use of information to better inform and support decision-making. The ability to integrate and articulate technical and political criteria with motivational and preferential criteria of policy takers are necessary and required conditions to make collective decisions policy effective, efficient and sustainable. Additionally, new (big) data, continuously generated by information and communication technologies, justifies a major research effort to identify innovative and integrated methodologies for better using this type of input in the definition of regional and urban development policy, adapting them to specific territorial contexts.

Thus, this special issue emphasizes the interactions between three dimensions: i) data and information; ii) tools and models; iii) policies and instruments. More and better territorial information: in the context of the definition of regional development policies, discuss the big data and the existence of limitations in its use and availability and reflect on the use of small samples and adaptive models to support decision-making; ii) Better Methodologies (Innovative and Integrated): assess how information and communication technologies (ICT) can be used to meet the needs and expectations of populations and foster regional development dynamics; iii) More effective regional development policies: identify the needs and challenges posed by policy makers, institutions and enterprises, as well as society in general, for the qualification of the territories and improvement of people's living conditions. The editors invite proposals for this Special Issue relating to any area of the three previous topics

Papers should be submitted to the regular review process of the journal until December 30th of 2019 at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/rspp. With a regular review process it is expected that the papers will be publish on the 3rd Issue of 2020. For guidance from the editors abstracts can be send to Elisabete A. Silva <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> until December 15th of 2019.

The coordinators of the Special Issue

João Lourenço Marques This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Elisabete Silva This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

RSPP Call for Paper

Urban Resurgence in European Cities

Cities are drivers for economic growth and innovation that control knowledge, capital and communication on a global level. However, there are many challenges related to urban development within and across Europe cities. First, there are difficulties with achieving convergence across European areas. Some cities do not manage to benefit from the better economic, social or cultural structures nor from the improved living conditions related with urbanization and often experience a lack of economic growth, population loss and poverty. Second, cities that successfully underwent structural change and that manage to deal with technological transformation are experiencing not only the advantages of economic progress but also negative effects related with congestion, pollution, segregation, etc. The different historic and political background has led to different challenges that European cities face and also to different (institutional, financial, economic, social) resources available to appropriately enhance growth.  In other words, European cities experience different type of challenges that require differentiated strategic approaches raising the standards in urban policy and planning requiring integrated, resilient, inclusive and sustainable solutions.

This special issue aims at contributing to the scientific discourse on urban development in Europe by emphasizing challenges and solutions for resurgence. Papers should have a focus on one of following topics:

• Resurgence in shirking cities
• Growth-oriented urban policies (Smart cities, innovation in cities)
• Urban resurgence in small and mid-sized cities
• The role of diversity and of the creative class for urban resurgence
• Cultural tourism and hospitality as instrument for urban resurgence

Papers should be submitted to the regular review process of the journal until December 20^th of 2019. With a regular review process it is expected that the papers will be publish on the 1^st Issue of 2020.

The coordinators of the Special Issue

Alina Schoenberg (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)