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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Danny MacKinnonORCiD, Professor Andy Pike
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Renewed political concern about geographical inequalities in the wake of the global financial crisis of 2008 raises questions about the ability of the prevalent pre-crisis model of development to generate more spatially balanced and inclusive economies. In this paper, we connect spatial polarisation and the ‘geography of discontent’ to the extended crisis of neoliberal capitalism after the 2008 crisis. The paper provides a conjunctural analysis of spatial policy since the crash, viewing this period as one of economic stagnation, instability and turbulence. It interprets recent reorientations of spatial policy involving the adoption of new strategies for ‘left behind places’ as part of an on-going process of regulatory experimentation seeking to address discontent and spatial polarisation as symptoms of the legitimacy crisis of late neoliberalism. Thus far, we argue, such policies tend to treat the symptoms of ‘left-behindness’, rather than addressing the wider structural causes of decline and marginalisation, meaning that they are unlikely to reduce spatial inequalities and assuage discontent.
Author(s): Mackinnon D, Kinossian N, Pike A, Beal V, Lang T, Rousseau M, Tomaney J
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: European Urban & Regional Studies
Year: 2024
Pages: epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 22/11/2024
Acceptance date: 01/09/2024
Date deposited: 13/09/2024
ISSN (print): 0969-7764
ISSN (electronic): 1461-7145
Publisher: Sage
URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/0969776424128737
DOI: 10.1177/0969776424128737
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