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Previous research has suggested that L2 learners often use non-target processing strategies to understand sentences, but that these strategies can be changed through targeted instruction that directs their attention to different linguistic forms or structures. The present study explores the effects of pretraining 'blocking' practice—a novel type of training designed to help learners inhibit the application of a strict word-order based processing strategy—prior to receiving a traditional Structured Input (SI) training focused on OVS word order and accusative case markers in German. The study compares three groups of third-semester German learners who completed three different activities in one training session: (1) SI with blocking practice (+BP), (2) SI preceded by explicit information (+EI), and (3) SI without EI or blocking practice (−EI). The effects of training were measured by sentence-level interpretation and production tasks administered as a pretest, posttest, and four-week delayed posttest. Learner performance was also assessed during training. Results in all assessment measures indicated that EI was most effective, but that blocking practice lent a slight advantage over −EI groups during and after training. These results are discussed in the context of studies on processing instruction and learned attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document discusses the need for urban and regional development studies to examine the relationship between ecology and economy, as well as the commodification of nature. It highlights the various initiatives and strategies being implemented in Europe, such as the EU's Green Deal, to address the challenges of ecological crisis and climate change. The special issue of the journal European Urban & Regional Studies focuses on these topics and includes papers that explore transformative resilience, sustainability transition challenges in peripheral regions, entrepreneurial action in local energy clusters, the impact of urban structure on automobile use, the use of green buildings, and energy poverty amelioration policies. [Extracted from the article]

The present study investigated the effects of processing instruction (PI) on the acquisition of accusative case markers in German, focusing on whether PI influences learners' online processing behaviors. Third and fourth semester L1 English-L2 German learners were divided into two groups: a traditional instruction (TI) group and a PI group. Participants completed offline sentence interpretation and production tasks, as well as a self-paced reading (SPR) task, which provides a detailed investigation of how PI alters processing strategies. Results showed that the PI group outperformed the TI group on the sentence interpretation task and matched their performance on the production task. The SPR task revealed that, in some conditions, the PI group showed increased attention to and processing of accusative case markers after training, while the TI group did not. The results provide some support for the claim that PI is effective because it alters learners' processing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how multiple linguistic cues interact in predictive processing among second language (L2) learners. In a visual-world eye-tracking experiment, we investigated whether learners of German use case and prosody cues together to assign thematic roles and predict post-verbal arguments. During the experiment, participants listened to subject-first and object-first sentences that contained (1) case cues only, or (2) both case and prosody. The results showed that the learners successfully predicted post-verbal arguments on the basis of lexical-semantic information but were less successful in using case cues. However, prediction success increased when both case and prosody were present, suggesting that predictive processing is supported by prosodic cues. Additionally, results show that higher proficiency was associated with faster processing and a greater ability to generate predictions. We conclude that the presence of cue coalitions allows L2 learners to process information more efficiently, and that the L2 processor can exploit the additive use of cues for prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how the most recent works of the German Neue Deutsche Härte band Rammstein express a Vergangenheitsbewältigung that is not limited to the history of the Nazi regime and divided Germany, but includes a much broader time and geographical frame that extends to Germany's present and future. In particular, the article argues that Rammstein's members confront their own Heimatsehnsucht, push for a new conceptualization of Germany, and forge an individual Germanness, rooted in their personal and political histories and expressed through their works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over 20 years ago a series of papers identified a strikingly dominant economic cluster – the UK's Motorsport Valley (MSV) – which led to MSV becoming an international exemplar of concepts such as agglomeration, clusters and knowledge-driven systems of regional development. Utilising an evolutionary perspective on cluster development, this paper asks 'whatever happened to MSV?'. Drawing on the framework of strategic cluster coupling, four cluster development episodes are conceptualised that each depict the dynamic evolution of the cluster's multi-scalar institutional environment, strategic coupling trajectories and economic development outcomes. Reflecting the emerging synthesis between evolutionary economic geography and geographical political economy, the paper describes an extended case study of cluster development, an evolutionary process of strategic cluster coupling and, ultimately, an example of cluster resilience. Through a focus on strategic cluster coupling, the paper provides further understanding of cluster evolution and path development mechanisms at key moments of cluster reconfiguration – and an empirical update and continuation of the economic story and cluster lifecycle of MSV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The editorial announces the addition of Jürgen Essletzbichler as an Editor for European Urban and Regional Studies (EURS), along with two new Editorial Board Members, Andy Cumbers and Hug March. The diverse Board is valued for its contributions to the journal's academic debate in urban and regional studies. The publisher, Sage, has implemented initiatives to promote unbiased and inclusive research, including a name change policy and new authorship change processes. Starting in 2024, EURS will offer a language editing service and a new option for authors to provide self-reported user information on race, ethnicity, and gender, with explicit consent and anonymized data collection. [Extracted from the article]

It was over 25 years ago that European Urban and Regional Studies was launched at a time of epochal change in the composition of the political, economic and social map of Europe. Brexit has been described as an epochal moment – and at such a moment, European Urban and Regional Studies felt it should offer the space for short commentaries on Brexit and its impact on the relationships of place, space and scale across the cultural, economic, social and political maps of the 'new Europes'. Seeking contributions drawing on the theories, processes and patterns of urban and regional development, the following provides 10 contributions on Europe, the UK and/or their relational geographies in a post-Brexit world. What the drawn-out and highly contested process of Brexit has done for the populace, residents and ex-pats of the UK is to reveal the inordinate ways in which our mental, everyday and legal maps of the regions, nations and places of the UK in Europe are powerful, territorially and rationally inconsistent, downright quirky at times but also intensely unequal. First, as the UK exits the Single Market, the nature of the political imagination needed to create alternatives to the construction of new borders and new divisions, even within a discourse of creating a 'global Britain', remains uncertain. European Urban and Regional Studies has always been a journal dedicated to the importance of pan-European scholarly integration and solidarity and we hope that it will continue to intervene in debates over what alternative imaginings to a more closed and introverted future might look like. Second, as the impacts of COVID-19 continue to change in profound ways how we think, work and travel across European space, we will need to find new forms of integration and new forms of engagament in intellectual life and policy development. European Urban and Regional Studies remains commited to forging such forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Our objective was to evaluate the effect of garden‐based learning on outlook and behaviors toward vegetables among primarily Latinx students. An educational strategy, garden‐based learning is a teaching tool that complements other disciplines. METHODS: Third‐ and fourth‐grade students at 4 elementary schools with different garden programs completed a bingo survey and participated in class discussions to measure outlook and behaviors toward vegetables. RESULTS: Students in schools with more garden exposure were more likely to answer "Yes" to survey questions reflecting a positive attitude and behaviors toward vegetables. In class discussions, students most often mentioned vegetables grown in the school garden as their favorite vegetables. CONCLUSION: For third‐ and fourth‐grade students, the length of exposure to a school garden appears to have a positive impact on both perceptions of and desire to consume vegetables. Other studies have shown that positive outlook and behaviors toward vegetables can change vegetable consumption habits in children. Integrating garden‐based learning into the school curriculum may positively influence eating behaviors over the long‐term future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tests how the parser adapts to input by considering how multiple redundant cues are integrated in predictive processing. We employ the visual world paradigm to investigate whether German native speakers use case and prosody together to anticipate post-verbal arguments. In Experiment 1, participants heard subject-first and object-first sentences containing either case and prosodic cues or only case cues in a single mixed block. In Experiments 2 and 3, sentences were presented in separate blocks, such that participants heard sentences with prosodic cues in either Block 1 (Experiment 3) or Block 2 (Experiment 2). The results show that participants used prosodic and case-marking cues additively to anticipate post-verbal arguments. Additive effects varied according to the distribution of the cues and their order of presentation. We conclude that the presence of multiple redundant cues facilitates sentence processing and that the parser adapts to the utility of cues based on their availability. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study investigates the role of prosodic cues and explicit information (EI) in the acquisition of German accusative case markers. We compared 4 groups of 3rd-semester learners (low intermediate level) who completed 1 of 4 Processing Instruction (PI) treatments that manipulated the presence or absence of EI and focused prosody. The results showed that, when training included EI or prosodic cues, the groups improved on comprehension and production tasks in an immediate posttest. Four weeks after training, the groups sustained gains on the comprehension task, but not on the production task. Participants who did not receive EI or prosody only showed improvement on the comprehension task in the immediate posttest and did not sustain these gains. These findings replicate previous findings on the role of EI in PI, showing an advantage for EI with the target form (e.g., Henry, Culman, & VanPatten, 2009). Moreover, the results suggest that prosodic cues help learners process morphosyntactic forms, and that they can enhance grammar instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gordon was a long time member of the Geography Department at the University of Durham, which was the birthplace of I European Urban and Regional Studies i as a journal. For many years Gordon acted as Book Reviews Editor before moving to a position as Editorial Board member in 2017. It is with deep sadness and a sense of shock that the Editors of I European Urban and Regional Studies i (EURS) have heard of the loss of our colleague Dr Gordon MacLeod. [Extracted from the article]

This study investigates the effects of Processing Instruction (PI) on the acquisition of grammatical gender and gender-marked pronouns in German. PI was compared to Traditional Instruction, i.e. a traditional, vocabulary-oriented approach using color cues (TI) and a Categorization and Memorization task (CM). The results of an immediate posttest showed that the PI group outperformed both TI and CM with respect to gender assignment on both a gender selection task and a writing task. The PI group also scored higher and responded faster than the TI and CM groups on a comprehension task that required accurate processing of gender-marked pronouns. However, differences between the three groups were not sustained on delayed posttests. These results extend the findings of previous research on PI (e.g. Benati, 2004) by showing that PI can be applied to target forms that are low in communicative value and must be learned item-by-item like grammatical gender in German. Results also lend support to psycholinguistic research that suggests that second language (L2) learners have difficulty acquiring grammatical gender because they do not process nouns together with gender information (Arnon & Ramscar, 2012). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article announces that article "After Florida: towards an economics of diversity" by Max Nathan published in the periodical "European Urban and Regional Studies" has got the Jim Lewis Prize.

This article examines the vulnerability of New Zealand's agriculture and economy to climate disruptions. The issue of climate change and its potential to alter traditional weather patterns is forcing farmers to grapple with the risks and, in some cases, opportunities. As a significant part of New Zealand's gross domestic product, the continued viability of agriculture is of national concern. The author hopes to pinpoint the environmental and economic vulnerabilities of New Zealand farmers, as well as their potential for adaptation.

Barnes has argued that (new) economic geography has moved in to a phase of theory development that he describes as 'hermeneutic' theorising. This epistemological position is characterised by an interpretive, reflexive and open-ended mode of inquiry that recognises the diversity of sources available for theorising and the subsequent conversations that will ensue from such diversity. In a recent deconstruction of the clusters concept in economic geography, and especially that version (or brand) expounded by Michael Porter, Martin and Sunley ask the question as to what added value is delivered by the concept's gatecrashing of academic and policy debates. This paper argues that clusters should not be overendowed as a singular 'brand', but recognised as an emergent set of multiple perspectives in dialogue. From a position of hermeneutic theorising, 'clusters' have the potential to add value by allowing theoretical debate across a wide range of (overlapping and competing) perspectives whose partiality and situatedness are made explicit. The possibilities for theoretical, empirical and policy cross-fertilisation from the difficult act of holding together these threads is one potential drawn from the conversations engendered through hermeneutic theorising in economic geography. Nevertheless, this 'work in progress' must be deepened and extended if the potential of clusters is to be realised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the concept of institutional thickness provided by Motor Sport Valley, a regional agglomeration of the British motor sport industry. Information on neo-Marshallian node; Definition of institutional thickness; Relationship between institutional thickness, neo-Marshallian nodes and regional development; Structures of domination and patterns of coalition to gain collective representation.

Examines the policy credentials of economic geography and economics. Several views on political economy; Policy-relevant economic knowledge in geography and economics; Difficulty in defining economics; Role of economics within the social sciences; Factors attributed to the geography's lack of clout with various economic policy audiences.

It is with deep sadness that the Editors of EURS have heard of the loss of our colleague Dr Tassilo Herrschel, EURS Editorial Board Member, who passed away recently after a short illness. Tassilo held an international reputation as an expert on the governance of cities and regions and his early work offered particular insights on post-socialist cities. His commitment to comparative European research, fieldwork and teaching was central to his academic and life choices and he was a strong supporter and regular reviewer for the journal. [Extracted from the article]

The author reflects on the contributions to academic and policy debate on processes of urban and regional development in Europe and information on 10th European Urban and Regional Studies (EURS) Conference and information on Jim Lewis prize.

This article draws on critiques of ‘global cities’ to conceptualize Birmingham, the UK's second largest metropole, as a ‘global’ city by highlighting forms of economic globalization that draw on the city's residents, their histories and their social and cultural networks. The article illustrates some of the diversity and significance of minority ethnic economic activity within Birmingham and the potential this holds for its future economic development, focusing on examples from three transnational networks (Chinese business networks, ethnic food manufacturing and the Bhangra music industry). The article signals a rather different understanding of ‘global’ as it relates to economic advantage, transnationalism and ethnic diversity within cities in general, and Birmingham in particular. We suggest that this different understanding of the global has important policy implications, not simply in terms of economic representations of the city, but also in terms of developing the possibilities of such transnational networks and engaging with the constraints facing them. We argue that encouraging a more relational way of thinking about cities like Birmingham has the potential for advancing social wellbeing by influencing socio-economic policy and practice. We use the example of Birmingham, therefore, to engage broader debates about alternative paths of ‘global’ economic, social and cultural investment for UK (and other) cities. A partir de critiques des ‘villes planétaires’, cet article conceptualise Birmingham (deuxième métropole britannique) en tant que ville ‘planétaire’ en soulignant les formes de mondialisation économique qui s’appuient sur les citadins, leurs histoires et leurs réseaux sociaux et culturels. Pour illustrer en partie la diversité et la place de l’activitééconomique ethnique des minorités à Birmingham, ainsi que le potentiel afférent pour son essor économique futur, ce travail s’intéresse à des exemples issus de trois réseaux transnationaux (réseaux d’affaires chinois, fabrication d’alimentation ethnique et secteur de la musique indienne Bhangra). Il repère une compréhension assez différente de ‘planétaire’, selon que le terme est liéà un avantage économique, au transnationalisme et à la diversité ethnique au sein des grandes villes, et de Birmingham en particulier. Cette perception multiple a d’importantes implications politiques, à la fois au plan des représentations économiques de la ville et en termes de création de possibilités pour ces réseaux transnationaux et de prise en compte des contraintes à affronter. Encourager un mode de réflexion plus relationnelà l’égard de villes comme Birmingham permettrait de promouvoir le bien-être social en influant sur la pratique et la politique socio-économique. Le cas de Birmingham sert donc à lancer des débats plus larges sur les options d’acheminement de l’investissement économique, social et culturel ‘planétaire’ pour les grandes villes britanniques (et étrangères). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]