Igor Calzada,David Beel,Matthew Thompson,Ian Rees Jones,Martin Jones
{"title":"Anticipating regional futures? The promises, prospects and pitfalls of the Basque Model","authors":"Igor Calzada,David Beel,Matthew Thompson,Ian Rees Jones,Martin Jones","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsag038","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsag038","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Over the past three decades, the Basque Country has been celebrated as a balanced and inclusive model of regional development. Yet the compounding pressures of a global polycrisis—climate change, geopolitical turbulence, digital disruption and democratic backsliding—now expose its limits. This paper examines how institutions, policymakers and activists confront these challenges through anticipatory governance and contested development pathways. Drawing on 2024 fieldwork, we argue that the Basque Model illustrates both the promises and pitfalls of hybrid strategies that selectively adapt emergent imaginaries of the future. The case highlights broader lessons for rethinking anticipatory regional development in uncertain and polarised times.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149151636","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"When path extension and structural coupling generate sustained regional development: the semiconductor industry in Penang, Malaysia","authors":"Tobias Wuttke","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsag040","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsag040","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Bridging the literatures on regional industrial path development and global production networks, this article examines the conditions under which regional industrial path extension based on structural coupling can generate sustained positive development outcomes. Drawing on a case study of Malaysia’s semiconductor industry (1971–2025), with the state of Penang at its centre, the analysis combines export and foreign direct investment data with 22 semi-structured interviews. Contrary to expectations of path exhaustion and decoupling, Malaysia’s experience shows that prolonged positive development outcomes can occur based on repeated multinational reinvestment, driven by industry dynamism (motivation to invest) and by facilitative policy and cumulative cluster effects reinforcing a competitive cost-capability ratio (location choice). While recent geoeconomic tensions have intensified investment inflows, standard global production network drivers remain decisive, highlighting the need to contextualise geoeconomics within broader production network dynamics.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149124292","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Imposed transitions and territorial backlash: onshore wind, regional development and far-right voting in France","authors":"Sébastien Bourdin,Martin Faulques","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsag039","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsag039","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article examines whether onshore wind deployment is associated with far-right voting across French municipalities and how this relationship varies across project stages and neighbouring territories. We combine a panel of 34,448 municipalities over the 2007–2022 presidential cycles with the official register of wind projects. Far-right vote share rises around the permit stage, remains elevated through construction and operation and follows a territorial gradient, with stronger associations in host municipalities. Deposit-only projects show a short-lived increase that fades. Through territorial environmental justice, the findings show how transition infrastructures can become electorally consequential when territorial implementation is uneven.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"37 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149124293","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Santiago Pérez-Balsalobre,Miguel Ángel Almazán-Gómez,Carlos Llano-Verduras,Julián Moral-Carcedo
{"title":"Analysing the Valencian DANA through interregional trade linkages","authors":"Santiago Pérez-Balsalobre,Miguel Ángel Almazán-Gómez,Carlos Llano-Verduras,Julián Moral-Carcedo","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsag030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsag030","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract On 29 October 2024, Spain suffered one of the most destructive natural events in its history. Heavy rains and floods concentrated in few municipalities in Valencia province caused 230 casualties in Valencia. This study offers a first assessment of the economic consequences. Using a unique dataset on interregional trade and tourist flows at the municipality level and linking it to a wide interregional–intersectoral model, we estimate the economic impact that such a local shock may have had for all regions in Spain and the rest of Europe. The baseline scenario reaches a −0.13% decrease in Spain’s value added, with a –0.92% for the Valencian Community, which can be expanded to −1.60% in severe alternative scenario, or to a −0.21% in the mild scenario.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149124150","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The role of regional and local good life indicator initiatives in shaping regional futures for sustainability","authors":"Fiona Ottaviani,Hélène L’Huillier,Fanny Argoud","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsag033","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsag033","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Initiatives centred on good life indicators have emerged as important arenas for rethinking regional futures beyond pessimistic narratives or growth-oriented development models. Adopting a place-based perspective, this article explores how such initiatives articulate shared visions of the future of social and ecological sustainability. Drawing on a comparative analysis of 12 European cases, combining documentary research, interviews and focus groups, it shows how alternative pathways can link good life with sufficiency. These trajectories move beyond conceptions of decline or conventional growth-oriented development paths, pointing instead towards regional futures grounded in the recognition and revalorisation of existing socio-ecological relations.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"197 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149124149","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Performing economic imaginaries of regional transformation: an ethnography of stakeholder events on structural change in Lusatia","authors":"Tim Rottleb,Johannes Staemmler","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsag036","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsag036","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper examines how the idea of a green knowledge-based economy shapes economic transformation in Lusatia, Germany, following the country’s planned coal phase-out by 2038. Framed as technological and green innovation-driven renewal, this “structural change” imaginary is deeply rooted in the region’s cultural political economy. Drawing on ethnographic research at stakeholder events and desk research, we show how the imaginary is staged, rehearsed and consolidated. The imaginary enables the formation of a hegemony project, and silences alternatives while downplaying political-economic power dynamics. The paper reveals the ideation-structuration process through which the imaginary drives regional development towards a particular envisioned future.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149124323","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Local development and decolonial futures: building blocks for people- and place-based development","authors":"Evans Korang Adjei,Laura Pinzon-Cardona,Diana Morales","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsag037","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsag037","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This study addresses the limitations of economy-centred development models and proposes the foundations of an alternative approach inspired by decolonial thinking and the capability approach. This model emphasises the recognition of individual and collective capabilities and the autonomy of communities to shape the future of their territories. Drawing on the experiences of civic organisations (COs) in Caldas, Colombia, we illustrate how local practices inform and strengthen this perspective. These organisations contest planning decisions, promote education on urban planning and participatory mechanisms, and enhance the transformative potential of citizen engagement to address socio-economic and environmental concerns. The paper contributes to debates on how to recentre agency and plural values to create more just, sustainable and context-sensitive solutions to local development challenges.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148934237","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Imaginaries as prospective structures: towards a typology of regional development","authors":"Huiwen Gong,Johan Miörner","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsag034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsag034","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper conceptualises regional development through the lens of structure–imaginary–agency configurations. Drawing on insights from different social science literatures, it develops a typology of four ideal-type configurations that provide insights into why some regions are able to renew their industrial legacies while others stagnate. The paper advances current debates in economic geography, which have tended to emphasise either structural legacies or actor strategies but have insufficiently theorised the role of imaginaries within such structure–agency interplay. Through illustrative cases, it demonstrates how imaginaries act as prospective structures that shape regional development trajectories by mediating between structural and agential forces. By emphasising ideational dimensions of regional development, the framework offers a new analytical lens for understanding how regions envision and negotiate development trajectories under conditions of uncertainty.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148934236","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The climate crisis: in what sense an urban problem?","authors":"Meric Gertler,Betsy Donald,Amy Glasmeier,Siqi Zheng","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsag029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsag029","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148899088","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Unequal returns to growth and decline across US regions and social classes","authors":"Clayton Adamson","doi":"10.1093/cjres/rsag031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsag031","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Economic development theory and practice in the United States implicitly assume that because economic decline is linked to worsened deprivation, the inverse must hold: that growth generates socioeconomic prosperity. While regional economic decline and stagnation correlate with decreasing real income among lower- and middle-income families, income gains from growth accrue primarily to higher-income families. Further, economic and income change relationships are most pronounced in micropolitan and smaller metropolitan regions, questioning the universal applicability of “one-size-fits-all” development strategies. These findings challenge the dominant growth paradigm, emphasising the importance of prioritising equitable resource distribution and place-sensitive strategies in economic development.","PeriodicalId":47897,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148899097","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}