EU Cohesion Policy 2014-2020

As scholars of regions, most RSA members are of course au fait with EU policies for regions of the EU. But, let's be honest, it can be a bit difficult to keep up at times and it can be even harder to keep up to date with the details of policies are they emerge. 

For example, the legislative proposals for EU Cohesion Policy from 2014 to 2020 are not exactly bed time reading! Having said that, they are of course very important. This is where DG Regio's excellent video summaries come into their own. Take a look at the one below if you're not yet up to speed with cohesion policy for the 2014 to 2020 period...

Too busy to click on the video above and watch it for 3 minutes and 13 seconds? Well, here's a very short three point summary:

• There are wide social and economic gaps between the EU's 271 regions (NUTS 2). A previous RSA blog post confirms this!

• Cohesion policy attempts to reduce the gaps between these regions.

• It's linked explicitly to the Europe 2020 strategy of achieving smart, sustainable and inclusive economic growth.

That's all for now. Check out the video pages of DG Regio for more of this kind of thing!

Global Metropolitan Regions: Shifting Economic Power

The Brookings Institute recently released their 2011 Global MetroMonitor, which ranks 200 of the world’s largest metropolitan regional economies. While such rankings should always be taken with a grain of salt, the MetroMonitor provides some interesting data about how the world's largest city regions are growing (and declining) in economic status.

The 200 city regions account for a staggering 48 percent of all global output but only 14 percent of the world's population and employment. The rankings are comprised of per capita GDP (income) and employment changes between 2010 and 2011. At the top of the rankings sits Shanghai, China with a GDP of $213 billion, population of 23.5 million and per capita income of $9,025. Cities in China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and India exclusively round out the top 15, with Houston in the USA marking the first appearance of a city region located in North America at number 19 and Stuttgart, Germany at number 31 representing the highest ranking city region for Western Europe. In general the trend of economic city region growth leans heavily away from North America and Western Europe, with 90 percent of the fastest-growing city regions ranked existing in other parts of the world. This is in contrast to 95 percent of the slowest-growing city region economies being located in the United States, Western Europe and Japan.

Generally, city regions with high concentrations of commodity, business and financial services performed the best while those with high concentrations of education, health care, government, administrative services and construction showed slower growth. In terms of a recovery from the recession, fewer than half of the 200 city regions matched the pre-recession levels of employment and/or income in 2011, with the majority of improved performance coming from the Latin America and the Asia-Pacific regions.

Have a look at the interactive map provided by the Brookings Institute to see how your nearest city region did.

Happy New Year!

The Regional Studies Association wishes all its members and friends a Happy New Year. Whether or not you believe in the Mayan predictions regarding the end of the world, we hope that you have a year full of accomplishments and fruitful events!

This will also be a busy year for the Regional Studies Association. For the first time in our history we will organize a global conference outside the EU. The RSA Global Conference will take place in Beijing between the 24th and the 27th of June. More information is available here. This is an exciting event for us that we hope many of you will attend.

Earlier in the year, we will also organize our Regional Studies Association European Conference in Delft, Netherlands. This event will run between the 13th and the 16th of May under the theme: Networked regions and cities in times of fragmentation: developing smart, sustainable and inclusive places. Last year’s conference in Newcastle was a success and we count on you to help us deliver a strong presence in this year’s event.

We would also like to remind you that the RSA now has a range of funding opportunities available to its members. Please find more information on our website. And don’t forget to read our blog to learn more about the opening of an RSA office at the University of California – Los Angeles in the USA.