This webinar addressed the current main economic thought influencing the EU Cohesion Policy, based on the research carried out by Prof. Daniel Rauhut in collaboration with Prof. Alois Humer. The webinar, which was held on November 30th, was a success and was attended by around 40 persons
Postulates and assumptions on how economic growth spreads spatially in key EU policy framework documents were discussed and compared to different economic theories. Strategic EU documents increasingly foster the urban dimension, and focus resources on cities at the expense of cohesive regional development. The findings made by Rauhut and Humer indicate large overlaps with Perroux’ ‘growth pole theory’. However, several of the key assumptions of growth pole theory are not met in the new context of post-industrial globalized service economy, which is fundamentally different from its original use. This is a troublesome finding when seen from a strategic planning perspective. Current implications for regional policy and planning boil down to the cardinal question of supporting urban areas and/or peripheries. Taking the strategic EU policy documents and their trajectories in economic thought into consideration, these findings confirm that regional development focuses on cities. Yet, it suggests a new perspective on an urban-centred EU Cohesion Policy, one that normatively requests the ‘responsibility’ of cities towards their hinterland, instead of fostering a further dissociation of cities from their hinterland. This suggests a reorientation towards supporting the linkages between urban areas and peripheries.
About Professor Daniel Rauhut
Daniel Rauhut holds a PhD in economic history at University of Lund, Sweden, and works as a senior researcher at the University of Eastern Finland since 2016. Previously Professor Daniel Rauhut was associate professor in regional planning at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm. One of his research areas is the EU Cohesion Policy and another is economic thought. Rauhut has participated in about 20 internationally funded research projects, he has 263 publications of which 85 are peer-reviewed and is a peer-reviewer in 17 well-reputed international scientific journals. In 2017, Rauhut received the Regional Studies Association’s Award for best conference paper.
