Renewed political concern about geographical inequalities in the wake of the global financial crisis of 2008 is raising questions about the ability of the prevalent pre-crisis model of development to generate more spatially balanced and inclusive economic development. This lecture provides the first assessment of this emergent post-2008 spatial policy in relation to the interaction of three key processes: neoliberalism; the rise of state capitalism; and, populism and the geography of discontent. Danny MacKinnon will discuss how the interactions between these three factors have shaped spatial policy in Europe and North America since 2008. This will be based on three main forms of spatial policy: metropolitanisation strategies to support the growth of large city-regions; the extension of competitiveness policies to smaller cities and towns; and, place-based industrial policies. MacKinnon argues that while these new spatial and industrial policies are focusing attention on ‘left behind places’ and rejecting elements of globalism and neoliberalism, they have not as yet dislodged the underlying emphasis on growth and competitiveness.

Danny MacKinnon is Professor of Regional Development & Governance and Director of the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) at Newcastle University. He is a leading economic geographer with a long-standing interest in the institutions and politics of urban and regional development. He is a Fellow of the Regional Studies Association, the Royal Geographical Society and the Academy of Social Sciences. His recent work has focused on the creation of new regional growth paths and the development of spatial policies to address regional inequalities. He is currently leading an international research project on patterns of demographic and socio-economic change in ‘left behind places’ in the UK, Germany and France.

The GlobeLecture is a series of lectures held several times a semester in which outstanding researchers discuss global change, transnational interdependencies and regional transformations. It is organised by the Leipzig Research Centre Global Dynamics in cooperation with partners inside and outside Leipzig University. This time, together with the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, we welcome the geographer Danny MacKinnon, Professor of Regional Development and Governance at Newcastle University.