'Beyond ‘Left Behind Places’: Understanding Diverse Trajectories of Urban and Regional Change' – DESPEREG(EST0102581)

WP 1 will identify and categorise peripheral regions across western Europe to situate French, German and UK regions in their wider context and differentiate types of peripheral region, overcoming the characterisation of different kinds of places as ‘left behind’ (Objective i). Informed by critical review of the international academic and ‘grey’ literature, analysis will be undertaken of the key dimensions and mechanisms of peripheralisation, incorporating a range of variables and indicators. Different types of peripheral regions will be identified based upon their long-term pathways relative to national and EU-15 dynamics during 1980-2017. Analysis will be centred on the NUTS 2 scale using secondary data from national statistical institutes (e.g. France’s INSEE) and international bodies (e.g. Eurostat, OECD).

WP 2 will investigate the differentiated patterns, experiences and outcomes of ‘movers’ and ‘stayers’ in the different types of peripheral regions in France, Germany and the UK. Innovating by covering the neglected issue of residential immobility as well as mobility (Objective ii), European Labour Force Survey (ELFS) data will be analysed to establish each regional populations’ level of (im)mobility since 2011. The socio-economic and well-being outcomes (e.g. employment, income, educational attainment, and health) of stayers and movers will be compared using ELFS data, and linked to demographic and attitudinal regional data analyses of available panel and longitudinal surveys.

WP 3 will uncover people’s everyday livelihood practices, addressing the neglected question of how ‘ordinary’ people deal with peripheralisation (Objective iii). Providing localised, in-depth understanding of experiences of peripheralisation and informed by WPs 1 and 2, six in-depth neighbourhood case studies will be selected (2 per country). For cross-national comparability, the cases will be matched across countries. The final selection of cases will take place at the outset of this WP. Each case will involve semi-structured biographical interviews with a systematic sample of residents (30 per case, 180 in total), non-participant observation, livelihood infrastructures mapping, and focus groups. Key is identifying potential pathways out of precarity at the household scale.

WP 4 will assess current approaches to the varied predicaments of peripheral regions, addressing the limitations of city-centric approaches (Objective iv) and informed by WPs 1-3. First, the WP will review policy approaches towards peripheral regions across the global North from the mid-1990s with the aim of identifying their strategies, rationales, intended effects, outcomes and limitations. Second, detailed analysis, mapping and periodisation of institutions and policies from the early 1980s will be undertaken for the six WP 3 cases. This work will be based upon secondary sources and 110 semi-structured interviews plus 9 co-production workshops.

The main results will be presented at the end of the project.

The future prospect will be presented at the end of the project.

The scientific productions will be listed at the end of the project.

Social and spatial inequalities between and within core and peripheral regions have re-emerged as a major economic and political issue in developed economies. Such divisions have generated economic and social discontent and growing levels of political support for populist and nationalist parties in peripheral regions, particularly certain old industrial areas. This turmoil fuelled the Brexit vote in the UK and the election of Donald Trump in the US as well as support for the Rassemblement National (National Rally) and Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vests) in France and the Alternative für Deutschland in Germany. In response, researchers, commentators and politicians have voiced concerns about the places ‘left behind’ by globalisation, technological and economic change. While welcome in increasing the political visibility of social and spatial inequalities, the ‘left behind’ category risks hiding and over-simplifying the different experiences and development paths of people and places.
The aim of the project is to develop a new understanding of demographic and socio-economic change in peripheral regions, examining the circumstances and prospects of places and people currently categorised together as ‘left behind’. It will advance understandings of peripheralisation as an on-going process driven by the geographical concentration of people and prosperity in large urban centres alongside the decline or stagnation of other regions. The research is concerned with inner peripheries defined by their disconnection from external territories and networks, particularly urban regions and intermediate areas close to cities experiencing demographic and socio-economic stagnation or decline.
Taking an approach that compares the experiences of France, Germany and the UK in their western European context, the research has four objectives:
i) To understand the distinctive circumstances and development pathways of peripheral regions, overcoming the tendency to subsume different kinds of places beneath the broad category of ‘left behind’;
ii) To assess the relationships between the population dynamics of peripheral regions and socio-economic, health and political outcomes, covering both people staying within, and moving from, peripheral regions to address the existing research bias towards migration between regions;
iii) To examine the livelihood activities and practices of residents in peripheral regions, remedying the neglect of how ‘ordinary’ people deal with peripherality;
iv) To identify new policy responses that combine conventional and alternative perspectives, moving beyond the reliance upon growing larger cities and spreading their prosperity to surrounding regions.
Using a range of research methods and a cross-national research design, the research team will address these objectives by undertaking the following tasks:
i) Identifying and categorising peripheral regions across western Europe to identify their different pathways of development and the key dimensions and processes of concentration and peripheralisation, drawing upon international and national secondary quantitative data;
ii) Investigating the different experiences and outcomes for people moving from, and staying in, peripheral regions in France, Germany and the UK using secondary quantitative data;
iii) Examining people’s everyday livelihood strategies and practices in peripheral regions through six neighbourhood case studies (two per country) based on semi-structured interviews, non-participant observation, livelihood infrastructures mapping, and focus groups;
iv) Assessing current and informing future policy approaches to address the varied situations of peripheral regions through analysing secondary documentation and key actor interviews.
v) Synthesising findings, relating them to the overall project aim and objectives, and writing up the project’s research outputs (8 international journal articles, 1 monograph) and policy report.