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This paper enquires into the travels of low‐cost varieties of marine fish in the context of Ghana, distinguishing flows that move toward coastal cities versus those destined for distant, inland cities. It derives data from field research on the Ghanaian small fish food system through surveys, FGDs and interviews conducted in Accra and Tamale. It is argued that although both coastal and inland cities partake in small fish food systems, they experience different flow patterns and FSN outcomes. These are partly related to the fact that Ghana relies on the confluence of local and imported sources for the delivery of low‐cost fish varieties to the population, especially in urban regions where such demand is high. We recommend that policies should focus on investing in infrastructure, especially transport and distribution systems linking cities to fishing communities, to enhance low‐cost fish distribution and improve FSN outcomes for low‐income urban consumers in Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities are increasingly identified by planning authorities as catalysts for urban change. At a local scale, planning policy often positions the development of university sites as a way to reconfigure the social, economic, and built characteristics of an area. At a city‐wide scale, the development activities of universities emerge as central to wider metropolitan strategic ambitions. This is especially the case in cities, such as Sydney, Australia, where multiple universities are dispersed across the city. Increasingly universities have been identified in strategic planning policy as vital infrastructure able to influence the structure and function of the city. This paper reviews recent strategic planning processes in Sydney. Specifically, the paper reveals how universities emerge as central in pursuing global city status and economic performance, supporting existing centres and corridors, establishing new specialised centres and shaping a new urban spatial structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we build on a long research effort aimed at identifying the specific conditions, functional and structural characteristics of urban areas, that produce different levels of residential segregation across cities. We explore segregation levels in Poland's 87 largest cities, cities with more than 50,000 residents, by measuring indices of dissimilarity relating to socio‐professional status. We then proceed by examining core structural determinants of the revealed segregation levels, including city size, and housing market characteristics. The results suggests that the structural characteristics of urban regions are indeed significant predictors of the level of socio‐spatial disparities in urban Poland. As expected, larger cities are more segregated than the smaller ones; higher shares of public housing also appear to contribute to more pronounced socioeconomic spatial divisions. Intriguingly, the share of new housing stock alone is not related to strong residential segregation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie (TESG) journal has made the decision to cease publication of its paper version and focus solely on digital publication. This decision aligns with the wider trend in academic publishing and aims to allocate resources towards improving the quality and visibility of the journal. The final paper issue of TESG is accompanied by a special issue on 'Cities and universities', which explores the impact of universities on regional transformations. The editorial board also bids farewell to Manuel Aalbers, the former editor-in-chief, and introduces a shared editor-in-chief role to promote collective stewardship and diversity in the journal. [Extracted from the article]

Against the discourse according to which peripheral areas are places doomed to an inevitable fate of constant demographic decline, the aim of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the local determinants fostering adaptability to prolonged challenges connected to a condition of peripherality. Exploiting the classification produced within the Italian National Strategy for Inner Areas, we investigate the determinants of positive demographic long‐term growth paths of Italian peripheral municipalities using population variation as the dependent variable in a spatially deep lagged model relying on census data from 1971 to 2011. Our longitudinal study provides evidence on the positive effects of demographic and labour‐skills related factors on population dynamics, that may prove to be crucial in supporting policymakers when formulating place‐sensitive strategies to enhance the adaptive capability of places in the face of long‐term slow‐burning pressures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does the settling of foreigners cause a rise in anti‐immigrant sentiment due to resource competition? Or do direct interactions lead to more respectful relations? And what if one also considers the settlement of foreigners in neighbouring municipalities? Applying an instrumental variable approach to variables collected at the Italian municipality level and including neighbouring areas, this paper aims to answer these questions by considering the vote for the Lega party in 2019 European parliamentary election as a proxy for the anti‐immigration sentiment. Our results point out that, once controlling for most socio‐economic variables and remoteness, a larger presence of foreigners within the municipality reduces the vote for the Lega. In contrast, the presence of immigrants in the neighbouring municipalities does not show a significant effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper contributes to the understanding of socio-spatial trends and urban systems in Europe, with a specific focus on smaller settlements. First, a morphological delimitation of urban settlements as geographical base is used to identify the different settlement structures that characterise regions across Europe. Secondly, an analysis of population and GDP performances of NUTS 3 regions for the 29 countries of the European space (growth rates in 2001-2011) provides evidence of the variety of territorial phenomena that characterise smaller-settlement regions across Europe. Finally, the paper highlights the diversity and complexity of urbanisation structures in Europe and how general trends observed at larger scale are articulated locally according to prevailing structures of urbanisation. It shows the character of 'embeddedness' of smaller settlements within urban systems and territorial structures and how the socio-economic performances of smaller-settlement regions are defined by a combination of macro trends, national contextualisation, local dynamics and regional path dependency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unique contribution of this paper is to empirically compare and contrast demographic change in settlements with a population between 5,000 and under 50,000 (defined as towns) across different national urban systems in Europe with common definitions for the first time. The analysis uses a new data set based on harmonised small area data and harmonised morphological definitions of what a town is. The paper hypothesises first that a general model of demographic growth can be applied across national urban systems and secondly that regional demographic change is a significant predictor of demographic change in towns nested within those regions within this generalised model. A fixed effect multi-level regression analysis tests the importance of town-level and regional factors among towns from five national systems but also within two individual national urban systems. The findings suggest that national context still matters and within some national systems, regional context also strongly predicts demographic change in towns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the 'policy dimension' of the TOWN project drawing on the implications of the case studies for policy(ies) for small and medium-sized towns (SMSTs) across Europe. It first considers approaches at European and national levels to SMSTs arguing in recent years there has been limited recognition that SMSTs have a significant role to play in the European territory. The paper provides an illustrative selection of towns from the ten case study countries. The research shows that the category SMSTs contains a varied and often dissimilar group of towns in a wide variety of regional contexts. This is true not only between countries but within them. The results indicate that while there are actions to support SMSTs that can be done at European level a prescriptive 'one-size fits all' approach should be avoided. Policy approaches should be developed within particular national and regional contexts supported by the European level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper concerns the future of small towns with an old industrial specialisation which have undergone growth processes during the 1900s and now experience de‐industrialisation and identity crises in an economic scenario characterised by the role played by global cities and emerging countries. The concept of resilience has been adopted as the main analytical tool to study this phenomenon. Following an evolutionary approach, resilience is here understood as the dynamic capabilities a system can use to react to negative events and changes, to emphasise its distinctive contextual factors and promote new development trajectories, by also considering the contribution of institutions and urban strategies. With regard to the empirical part of the research, three comparable small industrial towns have been examined: Sochaux, the historical town of Peugeot; Ivrea, developed around the Olivetti company; Pontedera, the town of Piaggio and the famous Vespa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the special issue on "Urban Politics on Ethnic Entrepreneurship" based on research insights and focused discussion that bridges disciplinary discourses. It challenges ethnic entrepreneurship theory by presenting new perspectives and empirical case studies from North America and Europe. As ethnic diversity is widely regarded as a special asset for entrepreneurial cities in the competitive global city environment, there is a need to better understand how ethnic entrepreneurship is used as a resource in city branding and how it is enabled through certain policies. Starting from the historical development of ethnic entrepreneurship research, the introduction leads over to the theoretical embedding of the special issue with its relational focus on space. The contribution proceeds with linking ethnic entrepreneurship to urban politics and outlines three major fields of research that are covered in the special issue: symbolic value to urban development, placemaking and social inclusion, and urban planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The rapid urbanisation of China has received growing attention regarding its urban residential environments. In this article, we model the spatial heterogeneity of housing prices and explore the spatial discrepancy of landscape effects on property values in Shenzhen, a large Chinese city. In contrast to previous studies, this paper integrates the official housing transaction records and housing attributes from open data along with field surveys. Then, the results using the hedonic price model (HPM), geographically weighted regression (GWR) without landscape metrics and GWR with landscape metrics are compared. The results show that GWR with landscape metrics outperforms the other two models. In summary, this research provides new insights into landscape metrics in real estate studies and can guide decision‐makers plan and design cities while also providing guidance to regulate and control urban property values based on local conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Neighbourhood‐based research on the rise of super‐diverse cities has mostly focused on the implications of living in super‐diverse neighbourhoods for individual relations, and paid little attention to processes of group formation. This paper focuses on how residents of super‐diverse neighbourhoods identify social groups. Drawing on the concept of symbolic boundary making, it provides insights into how residents draw, enact and experience boundaries. Using the results of in‐depth interviews with residents in Antwerp and Rotterdam, we show that super‐diversity complexifies but does not counteract group formation. Residents draw multiple, interrelated symbolic boundaries along ethnic, class and religious lines and lines based on length of residence, which are sometimes used interchangeably. We also show that group boundaries are dynamic and constantly (re‐)created. Finally, we show that discursive boundaries do not necessarily lead to less social contact across these boundaries, thus illustrating that symbolic boundaries do not always result in segregated social patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the importance of national borders in the process of European integration and its destiny, border areas remain relatively misrecognised. This is particularly true as regards the contemporary geography of border cities across Europe. It is therefore difficult to assess what importance border cities and cross-border urban regions have and how they have evolved in parallel with the transformation of European borders. The aim of this paper is to highlight the urban dimension of border regions in Europe and, in particular, the diversity of configurations present. Through an original cartography of border cities, we hope to draw the attention of the research community interested in borders and border regions to an unfamiliar aspect of European borderlands and some of the issues and questions it raises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a first attempt at the construction of a unified, homogeneous inventory of different classes of urban settlements in the European space, building on the approach of international institutions such as OECD and the EU in relation to larger urban areas and extending it to the specific challenge presented by smaller settlements. Its objective is twofold. The first is to address the fundamental empirical problem that was central to the development of the ESPON 2013 project 'Small and Medium sized Towns in their Functional Territorial Context' (TOWN), that is the proper geographic identification of different classes of urban settlements. The second is to introduce one basic classification of urban settlements, and two more refined typologies of small and medium sized towns (SMST). These typologies are used to provide a first impression of territorial structures of urbanisation throughout Europe, further elaborated in functional terms in the TOWN project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite that small and medium-sized towns (SMSTs) have been, and continue to be, a central part of the history of Europe, these places have largely been neglected by urban research. The ESPON TOWN project, on which this Special Issue builds, sought to redress this neglect performing a comparative analysis of their position and role across Europe. In this introductory paper we discuss some of the theoretical and methodological challenges when it came to identifying, studying and analysing SMSTs and the theoretical framework developed to inform our understanding of SMSTs. In particular, three themes are discussed. The first one is about the ontological problem of defining a town. Administrative, morphological and functional perspectives are considered. The second one reflects on a wide array of interpretative approaches about the relationship between towns and their regional context. The third one is about the thematic and multi-scalar perspectives that can characterise the policy approach to towns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is part of the research on functional roles of European towns conducted by a group of researchers gathered around the ESPON project 'TOWN'. Building on the systematic analysis of the socio-economic dynamics of 31 European small and medium-sized towns (SMSTs), we identified three profiles of their local economies. The first profile is defined as a dominant 'residential' economy that mostly relies on local activities that satisfy the needs of people in an area (residents, commuters or tourists). The second profile corresponds to a dominant 'productive' economy based on the production of goods and services to be mainly exported and consumed out of its area. The third profile is the mixed type that is characterised by an important share of activities in productive and residential sector with a complementary 'creative-knowledge' dimension, based on entrepreneurship, creativity and collaboration in innovation. Moreover, we analysed the economic performance and the shift in profiles in order to detect in which way towns make choices between residential economy, competitiveness and innovation for their local development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the shifting geography of the port-city interface in The Netherlands since the mid 1970s, and assesses its current scene. With an eye on port-urban governance and planning, we provide a dynamic account of the forces that have played a major role in the implementation of waterfront redevelopment schemes in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Our account shows that the power balance between the port authority, the municipal planning office, and the users of the port has shifted. This has compelled urban planners in both port cities to adopt a more incremental waterfront development strategy than they had anticipated, and has given port users more influence on the plans for the current port-city interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although we are steadily getting a better understanding of why regional population decline occurs, little is known about the causes of differentiated levels of decline between municipalities in the same region. In this paper we address the causes of intra-regional differentiation in decline in the Dutch region Southern-Limburg. The quantitative and qualitative analyses reveal that in the 1900-1945 period, differentiation in population development was the result of economic boom and bust in the mining areas. After 1945 (except for 1985-1989) however, the economic argument lost much of its relevance: intra-regional differentiation has primarily been the result of intra-regional and international migration and these flows are steered predominantly by life course motives, the uneven spatial distribution of housing opportunities and access to these opportunities within the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigates the relation between urban form and the socio-economic patterns of the resident population in three southern European cities ( Athens, Lisbon and Rome) featured by different processes of urban diffusion. The paper goes beyond the literature on sprawl focused on (residential, income and ethnic) segregation and the different features of the inhabitants of the suburbs and those of the inner cities residents. By integrating multivariate statistics and spatial analysis, a methodology is proposed, based on morphological and socio-economic indicators available at a fine geographical scale. Results show how urban diffusion processes vary widely according to the context, as does the socio-economic profile of the actors, stressing the need to think about different 'southern European alternatives' of sprawl. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how city's street network is related to the residential dynamics of the Arab minority's residential pattern in five Israeli Arab-Jewish mixed cities. Based on the the space syntax methodological framework we analysed the metric and topological access between individual streets. The results obtained show an association between residential pattern changes and the relative access of individual streets to the core area of the Arab's community (at the local and the global level) and discontinuity of street networks. The results clearly indicate that topological accessibility (i.e. topological distance between axial lines) is more significant in determining the dynamics of minority-majority residential pattern than is metric distance. The findings thus support the notion that a city's spatial configuration provides essential conditions for urban ethnic dynamics and the evolution of minority groups' residential patterns. Hence, this factor might be essential for policy making regarding minority-majority residential segregation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]