Becky Arnold (p), Leo van Wissen

Jose Victor De Jesus Pereira Borges

The Regional Development Characteristics Database is presented. This database, compiled as part on the Horizon Europe project PREMIUM EU, collates 53 regional development indicators spanning from GDP per capita, to air pollution, to crime rates. These indicators are divided into economic, social, living environment, political, and geographic dimensions, and are collected at the NUTS 3 level for European countries between 2010 and 2021.

The database is analysed, and its potential for examining a variety of questions relating to regional development is demonstrated. The distribution of region’s development in different dimensions is examined, and a strong linear correlation is found, e.g. a region that is underdeveloped in terms of living environment is typically underdeveloped in the economic and social dimensions too. From this a typology of regions is developed, dividing regions in vulnerable, underdeveloped, developed, and leading categories. The geographical distribution of regions as a function of their regional development is examined. On the macro scale a significant gradient is observed both from west to east and north to south, with more developed regions typically lying in the north and west. This is in line with expectations. Despite these macro trends, significant variation is observed at subnational scales. A surprisingly weak positive correlation between region’s development and urbanisation is observed.

For each region the evolution of development score over time is then examined. There is a positive correlation between regional development and time in 768 regions, which we call improving regions. There is no significant correlation in 641 regions, referred to as stagnant regions. There is a negative correlation in 57 regions, termed declining regions. Inspection of the geographical distribution of these three groups shows that stagnant and declining regions are most commonly located in central Europe, parts of Scandinavia, Ireland, and in eastern Turkey. It is observed that improving regions disproportionately likely to be highly developed, and in contrast declining regions are disproportionately those that are already vulnerable or underdeveloped. This is concerning, as it forecasts escalating inequality.

The implications of these results for regional development policy at the European and national scales is then discussed, and the diversity of vulnerable and underdeveloped regions is highlighted. This diverse nature makes it likely that a wide range of policies will be necessary to confront each type of region’s particular challenge

Norbert Petrovici, André Torre (p)

Becky Arnold

The study analyses the evolution of local development research over recent decades, highlighting the challenges and opportunities that characterize the field of regional studies. Through a Scopus query, we undertake a systematic literature review, organizing the corpus into distinct thematic clusters. These clusters are delineated based on the co-occurrence of terminology within the titles, keywords, and abstracts of the papers around the keyword local in the field of urban, rural, regional, and territorial studies. Employing natural language processing and network visualization techniques, our analysis discussing collaborative academic dynamics and thematic emphases prevalent in the domain. Specifically, the application of the Clauset-Newman-Moore and Kamada-Kawai algorithms facilitates a nuanced, interconnected exploration of local development scholarship. Our examination of 1,124 articles spanning from 1985 to 2020 showing a growing focus on local governance dynaics, underscored by a significant surge in discussions related to the 2008 economic and 2020 pandemic crises. This research underscores a persistent commitment to sustainability and short supply chains, reflecting a changing engagement with these themes within the academic community. Moreover, our findings discuss the changing ties of both rural and urban development, the burgeoning awareness of environmental issues, and the pivotal role of community participation in formulating regional development strategies. Our study shows a growing interest in the mechanisms of proximity, networks, innovation and social capital, coupled with an examination of policy-making, spatial planning, and decentralization. This body of work evidences a continuous academic interest with territorial governance, alongside emerging inclinations towards addressing spatial disparities and enhancing networks and cohesion. Through a quantitative categorization of the literature and the identification of prevalent research lacunae, we point to several gaps within the local development analysis. Consequently, we propose new directions for future research in regional studies, advocating for the need of theoretical insights into new emerging topics in local development in the context of regional development dynamics.

Chunla Liu (p), Kaichun Zhou, Xiaoqing Li, Binggeng Xie, Jiancheng Zheng

André Torre

Identifying the core area boundary of an ancient town cluster provides fundamental data references for the spatial zoning and layout of the cluster. This study focuses on the spatial abrupt change characteristics of the core area of the ancient town cluster, which utilizes the weighted kernel density analysis method and Densi-Graph method with POI data. By calculating the global inflection points to determine the optimal threshold, the boundary of the Xiangjiang Ancient Town Cluster's core area is identified and validated. The research findings are as follows: (1) The Xiangjiang Ancient Town Cluster exhibits a "multi-core, clustered" structure composed of 9 core area patches. (2) High-density areas are significantly related to the distribution of ancient buildings and are influenced by factors such as river systems and transportation corridors. (3) The morphology of the core area can be classified into three types, " subspace" "fish-eye" and "single center" with a high degree of irregularity in the shape of the core area boundary. (4) This method is applicable for identifying the boundary of the core area of an ancient town cluster and has been validated in terms of spatial overlap and landscape features, avoiding the subjective impacts of qualitative analysis. The evaluation results have strong credibility and feasibility.

Gabriel Batista, Jose Victor Borges (p), Eduardo Haddad

Chunla Liu

This work aims to generate an “X-ray” of Portugal’s economy with metrics for each of its sectors and regions considering social, regional and environmental aspects. Provided with the interregional input-output matrix of the country for 2017, we developed a typological analysis based on indicators calculated at the regional and sectoral levels - 7 regions of Portugal (NUTSII) and 65 sectors (CAE Rev.3). These indicators were designed to allow a description of the economy in five dimensions: present economic growth, future economic competitiveness, social inequality, regional inequality and sustainable economy. The main contribution of this work is to generate a multidimensional view about the advantages of each region and each sector in Portugal in the predefined dimensions of analysis, revealing potential trade-offs policymakers may face. In a world where economic development that takes into account social and environmental aspects is gaining increasing importance, a stylized description of how sectoral and regional stimuli affect socio-environmental indicators is of utmost value for strategic planning in both the public and private sectors. The results are the five-dimension indices for Portugal’s 7 regions and 65 sectors. They show how the interconnections of the country’s productive structure affect some aspects of the Portuguese economy and society.