Oana Mihaescu (p), Niklas Rudholm , Sven-Olov Daunfeldt, Özge Öner

We use big-box retail entry in Sweden to investigate how increased access to retail affects place attractiveness, proxied by residential property values. The opponents of big-box entry argue that large retail establishments generate noise and other types of pollution, and a variety of negative externalities associated with traffic. The supporters, on the other hand, argue that access to a large retail market creates a variety of positive spill-over effects and can thus be considered a consumer amenity that increases the attractiveness of the entry location. In our quasi-experimental design, we use a time series model to measure how the effects on property values change with distance from the entry location of five new IKEA retail areas. While prices of properties located at 1 km from a new IKEA store are not affected by the new entry, properties located at 1.5 km away experience an average increase of 6.87% after entry, to reach a maximum at about 2 km from IKEA at 6.95% and then decrease smoothly so that properties located 10 km away from IKEA experience an increase of only about 2%. Our results are in line with the argument that large external retailers have the potential to increase place attractiveness and may create favorable conditions for the long-run economic development of regions, but not in the direct vicinity of the new establishment where the positive spillover effects are cancelled out by costs from increased traffic, pollution, and crime.

Evert Meijers (p), Rodrigo Cardoso

Processes of spatial expansion and scaling-up of activity patterns and transportation patterns have led to the rise of multicentric metropolitan regions, in which multiple once distinct and relatively independent cities have become part and parcel of larger multicentric metropolitan entities. Such multicentric regions are even considered the dominant mode of urbanisation in many parts of the world, not least in the more densely populated parts of Europe. The Randstad Holland (Amsterdam – Rotterdam –The Hague – Utrecht and many smaller cities) is a classic example of such a multicentric region: wherever you are in this region, you are within the sphere of influence of at least a dozen different cities. The relative equal size and importance of the cities even makes it even polycentric. Building on the extensive literature on polycentric urban regions, we will contribute by exploring and characterising the position of secondary cities in such regions.

It has been suggested that this position can be captured with the concepts of ‘borrowed size’ and ‘agglomeration shadows’. Borrowed size occurs when a regional second city possesses urban functions and/or performance levels normally associated with larger cities. This is enabled either to proximity to larger cities or through interaction in networks between cities, as these networks serve as a substitute for the benefits of agglomeration. In contrast, the concept of agglomeration shadows denotes that second cities close to primate cities may also experience a negative effect, related to competition for urban functions, households and jobs.
When and under which conditions a city ‘borrows size’ and when it will predominantly experience an ‘agglomeration shadow’ is unclear.

The aim of this paper is exactly to explore why some second cities in metropolitan areas manage to capitalise on their position close to a larger primate city (‘borrow size’), whereas others predominantly experience negative effects (lie in the ‘agglomeration shadow’). Factors such as socio-demographic composition, urban development pathways, sectoral profile, accessibility, network embeddedness (levels of integration/interaction) and/or relatedness to larger cities are likely to play a role. In this contribution we will classify the position of all cities and towns in the multicentric Randstad metropolitan region in the Netherlands and subsequently try to explain this position in a quantitative way. This will lead to a novel typology of regional second cities in multicentric metropolitan regions.

Diana Cibulskiene (p), Mindaugas Butkus, Alma Maciulyte-Sniukiene, Kristina Matuzeviciute

One of the ultimate goals of investing EU structural funds is to strengthen economic and social cohesion. Aiming to formulate and/or adjust funds allocation policy, it is crucial to find out whether previous investments had a positive return, i.e. the goal to diminish disparities has been achieved. This paper aims to supplement the empirical evidence of previous contributions in a few ways: (i) the analysis is based on NUTS 3 level data and different expenditure categories of various EU structural funds; (ii) the identification strategy relies on difference-in-differences estimator; and (iii) the effect is estimated on the dynamics of regional GDP disparities rather than on regional GDP growth. The research results revealed that all investments combined did not contribute to the reduction of regional disparities. The analysis of separate fund shows ambiguous results. The analysis of single expenditure category suggests that investment in productive environment and basic infrastructure had positive return and investing in human resources did not have any effect at all.

Helena Nilsson (p)

In many of the advanced economies there has been a spatial concentration of people as well as economic activity occurring in the past couple of decades. In some industries the concentration of firms, however, has outpaced the concentration of the population, giving rise to increasing distances from inhabitants to different service providers. Food store desertification has been a growing phenomenon in a number of countries. With the increase of online retailing and home delivery, the pressure on the physical store has increased with the result in a decline in the number of stores. The present study examines the state and development of food deserts in Sweden between 2000-2013. Using a panel of 2500 neighborhoods, the median distance to the nearest food store is calculated and the development of food deserts between two points in time is examined. In a subsequent analysis the drivers of the change are investigated using a spatial panel fixed effects framework. It is found that despite the growth of e-commerce, there has only been only a minor increase in average distance to nearest food store, while the maximum distance even has decreased. A spatial-temporal analysis of the data however shows that there is a correlation between distance and population size, and that, in the long run, the access to food stores will continue to decline in areas with shrinking populations.

(See additional Extended abstract )

Liviu Stefan Rancioaga (p)

Member States and their regions see, among other things, the EU as an important source of funding for economic and socio-cultural development projects. The interest for European funding is linked to the availability and accessibility of national / regional funds.
No matter the experience of regional institutions in running projects, there are voices who say European funds are harder to access because of bureaucracy. But some regions, and even cities, consider the importance of being connected as closely as possible with the European institutions and have sustainable external promotion policies. Most of them have permanent offices in Brussels. But other regions don’t have. I am trying to identify in this study the countries with most and least NUTS 2 regions represented at European level, focusing on regions that include the Capital City of the respective state.
Research assumptions: regions with significant national financial allocations are less interested in attracting European funds and ensuring greater visibility at European level; internal cohesion among regional policy actors determines the existence of a functional strategy for European presence and the use of instruments available for the region; a region that is performing well within its own country is not automatically performing at European level as well. Regional policy pursues EU-wide cohesion, but regions play the most important role in promoting and developing. Special attention will be paid to the Bucharest-Ilfov region, given that it is a capital region with a wide range of particularities compared to the other regions of the country.
The methodology consists in the comparative analysis of the cohesion programmes, data bases and legislation analysis.