Editors:

Alfredo Cartone - University of Pescara, Italy; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Paolo Postiglione - University of Pescara, Italy; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Diana Gutierrez Posada - University of Oviedo, Spain; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Regional development and inequalities remain nowadays lively topics in Europe (Panzera and Postiglione, 2022; Diaz-Dapena et al. 2021). Despite many theories try and explain the persisting differences in regional trajectories of development (Iammarino et al. 2019), regional inequalities continue to be worsened by downturns and changes in regional economies. In this direction, two crucial issues have emerged in the analysis of regional disparities. First, subsequent shocks starting from the year 2008 (e.g., financial crisis, the pandemic, and the current geo-political instability) are putting more and more focus on regional capacity to change and promote growth in the long run (Kitsos et al. 2023; Faggian et al. 2018). Second, a large debate is sparked – both empirically and methodologically – by the impact that digital economy and path of ICT innovation have on agglomerations, insurgent urban-rural divide, and persistent regional inequality (De Palo et al. 2018).

In this special issue for Regional Science Policy & Practice we aim at more evidence through applications and innovative methodologies to help a broader comprehension on the links between development, inequality, and innovation in Europe over the recent years. Also, the special issue would welcome contributions that attain the analysis of European policies closely related to those topics.

Particularly, papers that involve innovative applications, novel methodologies, and policy analysis are expected to consider NUTS 2 regions or lower spatial levels. We kindly invite contributions on topics related (but not limited) to:

• Spatial disparities in Europe at the subnational level, causes and effects.
• Urban agglomerations and urban rural divide.
• Spillovers and spatial effects in territorial inequality, regional innovation, or economic growth.
• Geography of innovation.

Invitation for submission:

We welcome original, unpublished papers that address the above questions, or any other research questions not mentioned, as they relate to regional economics. We look forward to papers from all parts of the world.

Manuscript submission information:

All submissions must be original and may not be under review elsewhere. All manuscripts will be submitted via the Regional Science Policy & Practice online submission system (https://www.editorialmanager.com/rspp/). Authors should indicate in the cover letter that the paper is submitted for consideration for publication in this special issue “Development, Inequality, and Innovation in European Regions over the Era of Downturns”, otherwise, your submission will be handled as a regular manuscript.

• Submissions open until October 15, 2025.

References

• De Palo, C., Karagiannis, S., & Raab, R. (2018). Innovation and inequality in the EU: for better or for worse? Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. ISBN 978-92-79-90948-1, doi:10.2760/365700, JRC112623
• Díaz Dapena, A., Fernández Vázquez, E., Rubiera Morollón, F., & Viñuela, A. (2021). Mapping poverty at the local level in Europe: A consistent spatial disaggregation of the AROPE indicator for France, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Regional Science Policy & Practice 13(1): 63-81.
• Faggian, A., Gemmiti, R., Jaquet, T., & Santini, I. (2018). Regional economic resilience: The experience of the Italian local labor systems. The Annals of Regional Science 60: 393-410.
• Iammarino, S., Rodriguez-Pose, A., & Storper, M. (2019). Regional inequality in Europe: evidence, theory and policy implications. Journal of economic geography 19(2): 273-298.
• Kitsos, T., Grabner, S. M., & Carrascal-Incera, A. (2023). Industrial embeddedness and regional economic resistance in Europe. Economic Geography 99(3): 227-252.
• Panzera, D., & Postiglione, P. (2022). The impact of regional inequality on economic growth: a spatial econometric approach. Regional Studies 56(5): 687-702.