Andy Pike’ keynote speech introduced the ‘left behind places’; places that contradict to the ‘superstar cities’discourses and unveil geographical inequalities. Aiming to produce a discussion for socio-cultural development beyond economic terms, ‘eft behind places’ study captures the urban and regional studies slow responses to times of crisis (Global financial crash, Great Recession 2008 –09, to the recent pandemic). The speaker connected the emergence of ‘eft behind places’to the ‘eographies of discontent’as expressed in the Presidential Election results in the USA, the Brexit Vote, as well as in the penetration of parties strongly opposed to EU integration.
Andy Pike speech was very much focused on the need of policy thinking to overcome economic binaries, move from ‘singular’ to ‘multiple’ economies and connect to the livelihoods of people. Since the ‘one recipe fits all’ approach is no longer valid, new avenues for policy thinking should be opened up. Those ‘place-based’ avenues should take into consideration the aspirations of people, include bottom-up views, and could experiment with tools like participatory budgeting. Andy Pike concluded by offering an outline of the basis of a neo-endogenous development policy, identifying the foundational economy, income and livelihoods, social infrastructures and social innovation as key policy concerns.
Discussants: Danai Liodaki, Vera Fabinyi – CORAL ESRs
Link of the Facebook Live Event
https://fb.watch/berxjzw4Hh/
Further readings:
MacKinnon, Danny, Louise Kempton, Peter O’Brien, Emma Ormerod, Andy Pike, and John Tomaney. 2022. ‘Reframing Urban and Regional “Development” for “Left behind” Places’. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 15 (1): 39–56. doi:10.1093/cjres/rsab034.
Foundational Economy Collective (2020) The Foundational Approach,
https://foundationaleconomycom.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/fe-approach-2020.pdf
