ESPON Seminar Aalborg – 13 June 2012

Workshop 2: The role of innovation, attractiveness and creative economy in specific types of regions

Erik GløersenDepartment of Geography and Environment

University of Geneva

The GEOSPECS project

Development opportunities and challenges in specific types of territories:

• Mountain areas,• Islands,• Sparsely populated areas,• Outermost regions,• Border regions,• Coastal areas,• Inner peripheries.

GEOSPECS categories

Policy context

Mention of GEOSPECS areas in EU Treaty (Article 174)

EU-Parliament Intergroup

Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion 5th Cohesion Report

DG REGIO Working paper on areas with geographic specificities (Philippe Monfort, 2009)

Regional policy focusing on growth and sustainable development rather than on compensation for handicaps

Research question

Do geographic specificities

affect the capacity of a local community

or region to be

- innovative?

- attractive?

- creative?

TERRITORY

Research question

Affluent / Poor

Well-functioning / unbalanced governance Extensive/

limited infrastructure

Centrally located / Remote

Strong / weak identity

Attractive / repulsive climate

Highly urbanised / rural

Sluggish / dynamic

demographyTERRITORY

Mountain Island Sparselypopulated Coastal Border Outermost

«Innovative» «Creative»«Attractive»

“ceteris paribus”

Is this reasonable?

GEOSPECS categories

Identifying the defining features of each category of geographic specificity.

For example, mountains are characterised by:- Specific topography (slopes, altitude)- Harsher climate- Lower population densities & concentration in valleys

GEOSPECS categories

Mountain areas in Europe

Mountain areascan be found in most European countries.

There is a great diversity of socio-economic situations,both between and within massifs.

Population potentials

Number of personswith commuting distance(45 minute) by road

Cross-delineation

ESPON_Area

Border area (within 45 minutes)

Border area (within 90 minutes)

Coastal area (within 45 minutes)

Coastal area (within 90 minutes)

Sparsely populated and PC areas

Island without fixed link

Island with fixed link

Outermost region

Mountain area

Urban area > 100 000 inh.

Urban area > 750 000 inh.

Border area (within 45 minutes) 100.0% 10.9% 20.5% 38.6% 0.1% 4.7% 31.6% 34.2% 11.5%Border area (within 90 minutes) 57.1% 13.0% 23.5% 25.5% 0.4% 3.3% 29.9% 40.4% 13.9%Coastal area (within 45 minutes) 8.9% 18.6% 100.0% 26.8% 14.6% 2.9% 3.6% 38.3% 40.8% 13.2%Coastal area (within 90 minutes) 10.4% 20.8% 61.9% 21.5% 10.8% 1.8% 2.3% 38.6% 39.5% 12.7%Sparsely populated and PC areas 29.9% 34.6% 25.4% 32.9% 7.0% 1.0% 5.9% 55.9% 0.2% 0.0%Island without fixed link 82.7% 99.0% 42.3% 6.7% 71.9% 16.7% 3.0%Island with fixed link 3.8% 17.5% 100.0% 100.0% 34.6% 39.9% 23.3% 15.0%Outermost region 51.2% 62.8% 48.8% 48.8% 83.8% 15.9% 12.2% 0.6% Mountain area 14.4% 23.8% 21.3% 34.6% 32.9% 7.0% 0.6% 0.5% 17.6% 3.7%Urban area > 100 000 habitants 18.3% 37.9% 26.7% 41.7% 1.9% 0.4% 0.0% 20.8% 30.4%Urban area > 750 000 habitants 20.3% 42.9% 28.4% 44.0% 1.1% 0.9% 14.1% 14.1% 100.0%

The table reads as follows:- Within mountain areas (9th line), 21,3% of the area is also a coastal area (3rd column)

Main parameter: access to urban areas

Access to urban areas modifies the possibilitiesof implementingstrategies forinnovation, attractiveness and creative economy

Proximity to metropolitan regions and large urban regions

influences development perspectives for the Alps positively and negatively.

The Alpine range: surrounded by metropolitan areas

Mountains and potential urban commuting areas

Only a limitedpart of European mountain areasare within commuting distance of medium to large cities

Mountains and potential urban commuting areas

The proportionsof mountain areapopulations within commuting distanceof cities are quitevaried.

Attractiveness for tourism

Employment in tourism

Proximity to metropolitan regions and large urban regionsinfluences development perspectives for the Alps positively and negatively.

Attractiveness for tourism

Attractiveness for tourism

Tourism in coastal areascan be concentratedalong a narrow stripalong the coastline.

Climatic attractiveness: sunshine duration

Conclusions• It is not generally meaningful to seek to identify statistical

correlations between “geographic specificity” and indicators of “attractiveness”, “innovation” or of “creative economy”

• The natural limitations to the emergence of innovation clusters can be compensated by other factors

• Pro-active policies can be one of these factors

• Categories of geographic specificity are rather useful as components in the design of tailor-made strategies for each region or locality