Walls are identifying marks in space, made by humans; they are expressions of sovereignty, of power and independence. The walls recall us the existence of borders. Borders express the controlling of space. The defence of borders (limit of the territory, of an empire or a State) was quite usually made by walls during the long history of the humanity from the China’s Great Wall or Greek City-States through the Berlin Wall till the today’s constructed walls in Eastern Europe. However, walls exist in different forms, in different places, and in different ages on our Earth.

One can find many theories about the borders in the relevant literature. The common point about the existing conceptions of borders is its functions: separation, connection, filter function. The time of wall constructions is always the sign the strengthening of the separation function; while the demolition of the wall can show the coherence of territories, togetherness of different nations, natural, social, or economic spaces.

Fundamental social, economic and geopolitical transformations have taken place in the past decades on all territorial level. The year of 2015 seems to be crucial from wall constructions process in Europe caused by the migrant crisis, but the vote for Brexit in 2016 also has launched a wall building process in a figurative sense. The list of unsolved questions and walls arise from day to day in many case of the world: Why walls in Mediterranean, Pakistan, Palestine, Korea, US, English Channel exist and how we can manage these urgent issues?

The special issue wishes to work with the elements of this long-run dynamics. We are waiting for all empirical analysis independently of place or time; and theory which can help the understanding of the complex dynamics process around the walls.

The authors are kindly invited to send their full papers till 25^th of August 2017 to the editor of the special issue. The authors of selected papers will be asked to submit their work for the regular review process of the journal  (Regional Science Policy & Practice - RSPP). 

Special Issue Editor:

Andrea Székely, Associate Professor (University of Szeged)

szekelyandree@gmail.com

Dear Colleagues,

2 positions in Applied Economics are offered by the GSSI Research Area in Social Sciences (L’Aquila, Italy). The positions are intended for researchers working in areas and themes of interest of the GSSI Social Sciences unit which include: resilience and natural disasters, public policy evaluation, rural-urban migration, the knowledge economy (especially with a focus on peripheral areas). 3 Post-Doc positions in URBAN STUDIES are also available at the GSSI (L’Aquila, Italy). Applications from researchers with a background in the fields of urban studies, urban planning, anthropology, human geography, urban sociology and policy studies are welcome.

For further information: www.gssi.it/postdoc/ 

Deadline for applications: 15 May 2017

The annual gross salary is € 36.000,00.

Each research grant is for two years.

Engines of Urban and Regional Development

6th Central European Conference in Regional Science

September 20 – 22, 2017 Banska Bystrica, Slovakia

on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Faculty of Economics, Matej Bel University in Banska Bystrica

Keynote speakers

• 
  

  Prof. Daniela L. ConstantinAcademy of Economic Studies of Bucharest, Romania

• 
  

  Prof. Manfred M. FischerVienna University of Economics and Business, Austria

• 
  

  Prof. Peter NijkampTinbergen Institute Amsterdam

• 
  

  Assoc. prof. John ÖsthUniversity of Uppsala, Sweden

CALL FOR PAPERS: http://www.cers.umb.sk/call-for-papers-2/

The Department of Economics at UMass Boston (social-economics friendly economics department) invites applications for two visiting assistant professor positions for one-year appointments starting September 1, 2017.

This/These position(s) will support our growing cohorts of undergraduate majors in the areas of microeconomics and macroeconomics. We are especially interested in candidates who include an international comparative approach, heterodox political economy, feminist approaches, applied policy analysis, and/or innovative methodologies in their research.

Qualifications: Candidates should have a successful teaching record and the capacity to contribute to undergraduate general education and the economics major. Evidence of successful teaching with diverse students, including international students, is highly desirable. Candidates must complete the Ph.D. by no later than August 31, 2017. Evidence of progress towards an excellent scholarly record is necessary.

Review of applications will begin on March 15, 2017.

Please submit a letter of application, curriculum vitae, a sample of written work, evidence of teaching effectiveness, and the names and email addresses of three references. Please include in your letter of application an explanation of how your work would complement the heterodox nature of the Department.

Questions can be directed to Julie Nelson at julie.nelson@umb.edu.

Please note that the university does not facilitate visas for non-US applications for one-year positions.

Temple University, Philadelphia PA. Temple University's Department of Geography and Urban Studies (GUS) invites applications for a full-time, non-tenure track Assistant Professor position for academic year 2017-2018, with responsibilities for teaching in the areas of 1) nature/society relations and 2) Geographic Information Systems.

The appointment will be for one year only. It is possible that the position may be renewable, pending continued college-level funding and satisfactory performance. GUS (www.cla.temple.edu/gus) offers two interdisciplinary undergraduate majors in Geography and Urban Studies and Environmental Studies with approximately 170 majors. GUS also offers a M.A. and a Ph.D. in Geography and Urban Studies as well as a Professional Science Masters in GIS. 

The position is teaching intensive. We seek instructors committed to undergraduate education who will be able to teach a combination of introductory and mid-level courses connected with a university-wide general education program and the two majors offered in our department. The successful candidate will be able to teach courses including Sustainable Environments, Digital Mapping, Environment and Society, and Fundamentals of GIS. Ability to teach other methods courses such as web mapping, cartography or remote sensing is desirable. A Ph.D. in Geography or a related field is required by the start of employment.

Please send a letter that addresses teaching and research interests, a copy of your most recent curriculum vitae, evidence of teaching excellence, and contact information for three references to: Maggie Cogswell, Administrator, Department of Geography and Urban Studies, 1008A Gladfelter Hall, 1115 W. Pollett Walk, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA  19122.  Electronic applications are required and should be sent to: Maggie.cogswell@temple.edu. Review of applications will begin May 1, 2017 and will continue until the position is filled.

Temple University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer and the University especially encourages applications from women, minorities, veterans and people with disabilities.

Economic Development Quarterly (EDQ) is seeking evidence-based research manuscripts for a special issue of the journal that highlights effective economic development and workforce policies designed to foster manufacturing innovation and growth in the United States. The W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research and Sage Publications are collaborating with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) network, SSTI, and the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) in sponsoring this special issue.

The partnering organizations are seeking high quality research that would advance the state of practice in support of manufacturing. Selected papers will be submitted for peer review and those that receive peer approval will be published in an EDQ special issue on manufacturing in 2018. Top papers may be eligible to receive an award.

Please feel free to share this Call for Papers with peers who you think might be interested in submitting a proposal. Proposed abstracts/research outlines should be submitted to John Marotta at  jmarotta@crec.net. Proposed abstracts/research outlines are due May 1, 2017.  

For questions or additional information, please contact John Marotta (jmarotta@crec.net) or Ken Poole (kpoole@crec.net).

North American Regional Scientists - If you have any materials or announcements to include in the June issue of the NARSC newsletter, please send them to Elizabeth Mack (emack@msu.edu) or Ran Wei (ran.wei@utah.edu) by May 1. 

This is an alert that we have some remaining assistantships to fund Ph.D. students for study to begin in Fall 2017.

Our program provides interdisciplinary training in a variety of public policies, focusing on urban policy. Our program features a strong training in policy analysis, advanced statistical methods, and substantive policy areas. Students also have the opportunity to learn methodology for big data analytics.

If you have some training in Economics and hold a Masters degree (Public Administration, Political Science, Economics, Geography, or Sociology), apply today for a position in our Fall 2017 cohort.

For information, please contact Dr. Martha Kropf, Interim Director of the Public Policy Ph.D. program at 704-687-7332 or mekropf@uncc.edu.

Mediterranean Symposium on Smart City Applications (SCAMS 2017)

It’s a great pleasure to invite you to submit your research paper and attend The Mediterranean Symposium on Smart City Applications (SCAMS 2017)that will be held in Tangier, Morocco from 25 to 27 October 2017.

http://www.medi-ast.org/scams17/index.html

SCAMS 2017, is a forum for scientists,computer scientists, health researchers and industrial engineers to discuss and exchange experimental or theoretical results, novel designs, work-in-progress, experience, case studies, and trend-setting ideas in the area of smart City. 

Smart City is a new approach that covers clean technology and emerging information technology and their application in fields of urban services, domotics, industry, security, education, environment, healthcare, transportation, sustainability, etc

The SCAMS Proceedings will be published by  ACM International Conference Proceedings and will be indexing ThomsonReuter , SCOPUS, DBLP,  Inspec, IET.

All accepted papers will be available inACM Digital Library.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

· Track 1.  Smart Cities.

· Track 2.   Smart Building and Home Automation

· Track 3.   Smart Earth and Smart Agriculture

· Track 4.   Information Technologies and Computer Science

http://www.medi-ast.org/scams17/topics.html

Important Deadlines:

· Paper Submission Deadline   : 15  April 2017

· Notification of Paper Acceptance : 15 June  2017

· Camera Ready Paper Submission : 15 July 2017

· Authors Registration Deadline : 30 July  2017

· Symposium Date    : 25 – 27 October  2017

Submission link :http://www.medi-ast.org/scams17/submission.html

We would like your kindness to forward this Call for Paper to your colleagues/students.

Please email your questions to scams2017@gmail.com

Looking forward to meet you in SCAMS 2017, Tangier Morocco.

Sincerely yours,

SCAMS Committee