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The literature review has clearly indicated that the scale and characteristics of demand for Geography Earth and Environmental Sciences experts across different countries is unknown. Therefore, there is an urgent need to investigate this issue. This paper presents the results of research on the real demand for GEES specialists. In the paper, real demand is expressed by job vacancies (N = 17 378) published in six European countries over a period of 18 months. To analyse such an extensive body of text data, we used data mining techniques such as: SVD, inter-factor correlation analysis, word frequency analysis and word significance indicators, which allowed us to recognise similarities and differences in the size and structure of demand for these specialists in specific groups of countries. Employers from the UK and Ireland offered the most comprehensive range of positions whereas the expectations of Polish employers were the least diverse. Word frequency analyses for each occupation group demonstrated which components of GEES experts' knowledge and skills are considered universal on the labour market and which are subject to substantial regional variations. Moreover, word significance analyses allowed us to identify the occupations where a wider range of general skill areas was required and the positions for which primarily geographic skills were in demand.

This paper discusses the representation of resource exploitation and consumption in German geography textbooks. The aim of the paper is to contribute to a critical and reflective understanding of the representation of resource-related issues in textbooks by analyzing two scientific debates (resource curse and actor analysis). The paper shows that all studied geography textbooks contribute to a certain degree to awareness raising in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), but references to the everyday life of students are rare. There are only few action-orientated tasks in the frame of resource exploitation and consumption in the studied textbooks. As real-world examples help develop students' critical thinking skills and shape their ideas of sustainable development, these aspects reflect a pedagogical shortcoming.

This paper focuses on the reflection on the relationship between values and methodological principles of Outdoor Education and spatial and geographical education perspectives, especially in pre-school and primary school, which relates to the age between 3 and 10 years. Outdoor Education is an educational practice that is already rooted in the philosophical thought of the 16th and the 17th centuries, from John Locke to Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and in the pedagogical thought, in particular Friedrich Fröbel, and it has now a quite stable tradition in Northern Europe countries. In Italy, however, there are still few experiences and they usually do not have a systematic and structural modality, but rather a temporarily and experimentally outdoor organization. In the first part, this paper focuses on the reasons that justify a particular attention to educational paths that favour outdoors activities, providing also a definition of outdoor education and highlighting its values. It is also essential to understand that educational programs in open spaces, such as a forest or simply the schoolyard, surely offers the possibility to learn geographical situations. Therefore, the question that arises is how to finalize the best stimulus that the spatial location guarantees for the acquisition of knowledge, skills and abilities about space and geography.

This paper explores the contribution to geography teaching which can be made by serious games. We describe the ways in which gaming has progressed from "dissected maps" and jigsaws through board games, to the range of online games which are available today. We describe the development, in conjunction with European partner institutions, of a new game, entitled "RU EU?", intended to raise student awareness of European issues, notably the question of European identity; this seems to be both important and topical at the time of Brexit. We describe the development and the nature of the game and its launch, and the feedback which we have received from students who have played it, and suggest that, while it is not necessarily a substitute for traditional lecture-style teaching, games such as this can provide an additional tool in the geography lecturer's armoury.

The 2024 European Quality of Government Index (EQI) collects the opinions of 135,227 respondents in a total of 210 NUTS 1 and NUTS 2 regions in all EU 27 member state countries. This paper, first, presents the 2024 data and highlights some of the main results of this effort to understand citizens' perceptions, and personal experiences, of regional quality of government. Second, it compares the findings with the previous four rounds of the survey (starting in 2010), highlighting both the regions that are improving and those that show a declining trend in their quality of government. Third, the paper discusses the changes made to round 5 and other trends in the data over time, paying special attention to the comparison of EU citizens' perceptions and experiences of government before and after the Covid-19 pandemic. Compared to the improvements in corruption levels recorded in the 2021 study, we find that corruption levels have bounced back to more normal levels in post pandemic Europe [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses some of the complex issues involved in how Europe is represented in a range of map formats. The reader is encouraged to consider these issues by accessing recommended websites in order to analyse how Europe is represented through their published contents. Simon Catling's theoretical work on children's worlds is then used to discuss the implications of European maps and how they may influence children's geographical knowledge and understanding of their world. By bringing these two ideas together it may be possible to further inform how the concepts of Europe and children's' sense of place may improve geographical education.

This paper examines imaginative geographies of forced migration and refugee settlement in a BBC radio series that follows and gives voice to a Syrian family as they journey to Europe. Originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 2015 and 2017, the episodes have since been repackaged as a podcast on BBC Sounds. The paper answers Horton's (2019) call for greater engagement with media and popular culture by foregrounding radio as an understudied medium with the capacity to shape listeners' geographical imaginations. It explores how this series, presented by Manveen Rana, broke new ground through its journalistic-ethnographic form, eyewitness reporting and amplification of refugee voices, and analyses how two imaginative geographies of journey and settlement are constructed through sounds and the spoken word. The paper concludes by theorising radio as a slow medium and demonstrating how Rana's journalism pushes beyond Toal's (1996, p. 171) 'anti-geopolitical eye' to evidence an anti-geopolitical ear: that is to say, Rana encourages a way of listening to Europe's migration 'crisis' that disrupts discursive framings of refugees as 'victims' or 'threats' by recasting the family as tangible and relatable human beings. This finding has significant implications for media reporting on migration and scholarship on journalistic storytelling and the construction of geographical imaginations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the fall of communism in eastern Europe. Applies Latin America models to eastern Europe. Suggests that revolutions are shaped by the systems against which they are directed. Concludes that the problems of eastern Europe are not caused by the system so much as by geography. Argues that poor capitalism may lie in the future for eastern Europe. (DK)

Makeshift camps have increasingly become a permanent presence along border areas and in cities around Europe and elsewhere, constituting a 'hidden geography' that is crucial to overland mobilities of thousands of migrants each year and essential to understanding contemporary informal migration. While there is rich and burgeoning scholarship on makeshift camps, substantial gaps remain in the understanding of these informal geographies which have not yet been conceptualized in terms of the key roles they play in the production of informal migration corridors nor the unique forms of daily life en route that they support, as this paper intends to do. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in urban residential density represent an important issue in terms of land consumption, the conservation of ecosystems, air quality and related human health problems, as well as the consequential challenges for urban and regional planning. It is the decline of residential densities, in particular, that has often been used as the very definition of sprawl, describing a phenomenon that has been extensively studied in the United States and in Western Europe. Whilst these studies provide valuable insights into urbanization processes, only a handful of them have reflected the uneven dynamics of simultaneous urban growth and shrinkage, using residential density changes as a key indicator to uncover the underlying dynamics. This paper introduces a contrasting analysis of recent developments in both de- and re-concentration, defined as decreasing or increasing residential densities, respectively. Using a large sample of European cities, it detects differences in density changes between successional population growth/decline. The paper shows that dedensification, found in some large cities globally, is not a universal phenomenon in growing urban areas; neither the increasing disproportion between a declining demand for and an increasing supply of residential areas nor actual concentration processes in cities were found. Thus, the paper provides a new, very detailed perspective on (de)densification in both shrinking and growing cities and how they specifically contribute to current land take in Europe. [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]

ABSTRACT Social conditions influence sociological research much more than they do other sciences. Consequently, beyond the common interests of the whole sociological community one can observe interests that are specific to social and cultural areas. It is to the interaction of general and specific sociological y interests, and their relation to the possibility of constituting a 'European' sociology, that this paper is addressed. Its starting point is an analysis of the contributions at the XIIth World Congress of Sociology (Madrid, 1990). The relation of the proposed theme to the geographical area and gender of the conference participant was studied via the application of content analysis and the use of residual analysis. A profile of thematic preference was established for each variable category. The analysis shows that in Europe there is an evident preference for some questions, but despite this common trait, significant differences can be observed in terms of both the geographical area and gender variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an absence of absence in legal geography and materialist studies of the law. Drawing on a multi‐sited ethnography of European asylum appeal hearings, this paper illustrates the importance of absences for a fully‐fledged materiality of legal events. We show how absent materials impact hearings, that non‐attending participants profoundly influence them, and that even when participants are physically present, they are often simultaneously absent in other, psychological registers. In so doing we demonstrate the importance and productivity of thinking not only about law's omnipresence but also the absences that shape the way law is experienced and practised. We show that attending to the distribution of absence and presence at legal hearings is a way to critically engage with legal performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current phase of intensive globalisation, digitisation, the expansion of fintech companies and the overall impacts of the recent crisis seem to spur further concentration in the banking sector in terms of both the number of banks in operation and the number of banking centres. This research is motivated by the fact that, in contrast to leading financial and banking centres that attract considerable research attention, small banking centres have remained under-researched, despite their large number and the important role they play in their host communities and regions. This paper deals with the recent evolutionary dynamics of 199 small European banking centres and is based on an analysis of the economic performance of individual banks aggregated at the city level where they have their headquarters. The analysed indicators cover size, profitability and the level of risk of particular banks over the 2004–2015 period. In addition, the data were analysed for three basic European macro-regions (western Europe, southern Europe and central and eastern Europe) and in terms of the ownership of the banks headquartered in particular centres (foreign versus domestic). Our investigation shows that, even though a significant decline has been observed in the number of these centres, the financial performance of banks headquartered in small financial centres differs widely, depending significantly upon the European macro-region (a decisive number of defunct banking centres was concentrated in southern Europe) and the ownership structure. [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]

Some of the richest places in the world have very high historical border presence, and are often located in particular geographic environments. In this paper we compile grid-cell level data on borders between sovereign states in Europe and surrounding areas from 1500 until today to document that state borders tend to be located in rugged and mountainous terrain, by rivers, and where it rains a lot. Moreover, two commonly used measures of economic activity—night lights and population density—are higher in cells with more borders, in particular more stable borders. This result holds also when controlling for geography. However, by the same metric, cells with more borders than neighboring cells are less developed than those neighbors. These patterns are consistent with a theory in which state competition benefits long-run development, but these benefits accrue more to the center than the periphery of states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Situated in the context of recent geographical engagements with ‘landscape’, this paper combines ‘morphological’ and ‘iconographic’ landscape interpretations to examine how urban forms were perceived in late medieval Europe. To date, morphological studies have mapped the medieval city either by classifying urban layouts according to particular types, or by analysing plan forms of particular towns and cities to reveal their spatial evolution. This paper outlines a third way, an ‘iconographic’ approach, which shows how urban forms in the Middle Ages conveyed Christian symbolism. Three such ‘mappings’ explore this thesis: the first uses textual and visual representations which show that the city was understood as a scaled-down world - a microcosm - linking city and cosmos in the medieval mind; the second ‘mapping’ develops this theme further and suggests that urban landscapes were inscribed with symbolic form through their layout on the ground; while the third looks at how Christian symbolism of urban forms was performed through the urban landscape in perennial religious processions. Each of these ‘mappings’ points to the symbolic, mystical significance urban form had in the Middle Ages, based on religious faith, and they thus offer a deepened appreciation of how urban landscapes were represented, constructed and experienced at the time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on experiences with international learning and teaching in a European (ERASMUS) programme on geography and gender during the period 1990–1998. This programme forms an example of collaborative work in which the author and colleagues experimented with an array of models to bring geography students and teachers of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds together. International learning and teaching is a confrontation with diversity. Diversity in language, in the mastery of English and the resulting hierarchies, in learning and teaching cultures and in defining geography form both challenges and opportunities to profit. In this paper the author will expound on the different strategies to deal with linguistic and cultural differences and to break down hierarchies. Furthermore the opportunities to "use" the differences as learning and teaching contexts will be discussed. Geography is a discipline concerning diversity. Direct contact between persons with different cultural backgrounds can form an efficient, effective and stimulating method to learn about differences in geographies and in teaching methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sharing economy, intended as the creation of new markets for idle resources managed by digital intermediary platforms, is spreading in most economies. This paper offers new evidence on the geography of this phenomenon in the NUTS2 regions of the EU27 + UK by proposing a methodology to identify its stages and intensity of development. Results suggest that the sharing economy develops unevenly across countries and across regions, highlighting exceptional cases of mismatch between the intensity of the sharing economy and the most favourable socio-economic context conditions and warning against the possible detrimental effects of its development for wage inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Commentary for the Research Colloquium on "Geopolitical Imaginaries of Regional Cooperation and National Identity: A Central European Perspective" foregrounds the significance of imagined geographies for driving policies, shaping nations, and making identities. It highlights the urgency of countering the self-aggrandizing, ethno-nationalist, illiberal, reductionist, and conservative imagined geographies that have emerged in recent years across Central Europe, in particular in Hungary. A more critical, pluralistic, and inclusive geopolitics of the region is presented in this Research Colloquium, which is in stark contrast to the attempts of certain political and intellectual elites to fix identities that foment mistrust and division within and between societies. The regional imaginaries espoused by some political leaders, and their tenuous historical and geographical grounding, tell us little about the geographical concepts and areas they purport to represent but much about the insecurities and agendas of the political elites who directly benefit from the uptake of these imaginings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many ways of moving through a city. Cycling is one which has received considerable attention from urban scholars. Yet it has remained largely neglected within the burgeoning literature on the post-socialist urbanisms of Central and Eastern Europe. This paper uses a case study from Sofia, Bulgaria to address this gap in urban research. By exploring the practices and affordances of cycling, we offer a discussion of everyday mobility, public life and urban space in post-socialist Sofia. This case study incorporates ethnography and in-depth interviews with regular cyclists. Through a discussion of bicycling spaces and practices, this paper complicates the notion of post-socialist cities as places defined by the decline of public sensibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities are major drivers of environmental change at all scales and are especially at risk from the ensuing effects, which include poor air quality, flooding and heat waves. Typically, these issues are studied on a city-by-city basis owing to the spatial complexity of built landscapes, local topography and emission patterns. However, to ensure knowledge sharing and to integrate local-scale processes with regional and global scale modelling initiatives, there is a pressing need for a world-wide database on cities that is suited for environmental studies. In this paper we present a European database that has a particular focus on characterising urbanised landscapes. It has been derived using tools and techniques developed as part of the World Urban Database and Access Portal Tools (WUDAPT) project, which has the goal of acquiring and disseminating climate-relevant information on cities worldwide. The European map is the first major step toward creating a global database on cities that can be integrated with existing topographic and natural land-cover databases to support modelling initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article throws light on migration from Africa to Europe which happens on African soil. The Comoros Archipelago comprises Anjouan, Grande Comore, Mohéli and Mayotte, which has been part of France since 1975, and since January 1st 2014, an ultra-peripheral region of the European Union. This explains measures like the introduction, in 1995, of the Balladur Visa, which is commonly called "Visa de la mort" [Visa of Death] for inhabitants of the other three Islands. The privileged status of Mayotte has caused massive risky 'migration', which on the one hand is considered 'illegal' while on the other hand, is also regarded as 'internal' movement, given the historical ties among the peoples of the Archipelago. Constructing an argument from the works of two 'francographe' writers; Nassur Attoumani from Mayotte, and Soeuf Elbadawi from the Grande Comore; this paper challenges discourses on migration crisis and creates a venue for the visibility of critical texts by authors outside the main circuits of literary legitimation. Also, the analysis explores fertile points of dialogue between the economy of literature, history and sociopolitical geography by emphasizing the ambiguous relationship between Mayotte and Europe, while delving into conjectures on critical geography in order to understand an essential human concern: identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is located within work in urban studies about the significance of contact with difference as a means for reducing prejudice and achieving social change. Recent approaches, influenced by theories of affect, have emphasised non-conscious everyday negotiations of difference in the city. In this paper it is argued that such approaches lose sight of the significance of the subject: of the reflective judgements of ‘others’ made by individuals; of our ability to make decisions around the control of our feelings and identifications; and of the significance of personal pasts and collective histories in shaping the ways we perceive and react to encounters. Rather, this paper uses a biographical approach focusing on interviewees’ narratives of encounter. Through its attention to processes of mobility and emplacement, it contributes to debates about when contact with difference matters by highlighting the importance of everyday social normativities in the production of moral dispositions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Urban agriculture has become a common form of urban land use in European cities linked to multiple environmental, social and economic benefits, as well as to diversified forms (from self-production allotments to high-tech companies). Social acceptance will determine the development of urban agriculture and specific knowledge on citizens’ perception is required in order to set the basis for policy-making and planning. The ecosystem services provided by urban agriculture can be determinant in this process. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the social acceptance and the perceived ecosystem services of urban agriculture in the city of Bologna (Italy), as an example of a Southern European city. In particular, we evaluated the preferences for urban land uses, for different typologies of urban agriculture and for the resulting products, the perceived provision of ecosystem services and the willingness to engage in new initiatives. A survey that investigated these topics (including open questions, closed questions and Likert-scale evaluation) was performed on the citizens of Bologna (n = 380) between October and November 2016. Results showed that urban agriculture is widely accepted by the inhabitants of Bologna, particularly regarding vegetable production. Although intensive farming systems were the least preferred forms to be implemented in Bologna, citizens highly accepted a large variety of urban agriculture goods, with preference for those obtained from plants as compared to animal products. The willingness-to-pay for urban food products was mostly the same as for conventional ones, although the participants recognised the social values, proximity and quality of the former. Socio-cultural ecosystem services were perceived as more valuable than environmental ones. Policy-making recommendations can be extracted from the results to facilitate the development of urban agriculture plans and policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of graduates from universities or higher education institutions increased in the last 30 years in Europe, but not in the same pace as their absorption rates on the labor market in their fields of study. Understanding the paradigms in which higher institutions' work is important in relation to their structure, teaching staff, curriculum and opportunities for students. Our analysis focuses on the reasons why students choose a faculty of Geography and assesses their perception regarding the educational process and employability. The results emphasize as main motivation the passion for Geography, while the location in Bucharest plays an important role also. The results underlined that students felt that they should have been more involved in research activities or they should have been given the opportunity to work in part-time jobs during their studies. The findings of our paper correspond with the social and economic context as the youth who arrive in a big city, such as Bucharest, are more interested to find a job and produce an income, putting their studies on the second place. These aspects emphasize the need for creating a stronger connection between the higher education institution and the labour market actors and the need to adjust the curricula according to employers' requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present debate on regional policy design to fit the Europe 2020 Agenda calls for additional reflections on the way sectoral policies, like innovation policies, can be translated appropriately into a regional setting. The paper enters the debate on smart specialization strategies by stressing the need to overcome the simplistic dichotomy between core and periphery in the Union and between an advanced 'research area' (the core) and a 'co-application area' of general purpose technologies to local technological specificities (the periphery). The geography of innovation is much more complex than a simple core-periphery model, and the logical pathway toward innovation is much more complex than the linear model of research and development-invention-innovation direct link: the innovation patterns are differentiated among regions according to their regional context conditions. The identification of specific 'innovation patterns' is necessary to design 'smart innovation' policies. The paper presents a critique to the smart specialization debate, suggests a new taxonomy of European innovative regions based on their innovation patterns, and proposes innovation policies for each regional mode of innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the debate on urban morphology has been polarized by two different perspectives, the first developed within the International Seminar on Urban Form (ISUF), based on the Conzenian and the Muratorian traditions, and the second - space syntax - developed particularly in University College London. Both approaches are being further developed in a wide international context. The first and the second parts of this paper describe the origins, main characteristics, and contributions of these approaches, which are illustrated by the authors on-going research on Oporto urban form in Portugal. The last part presents some suggestions for bridging the gap between these approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the variation between generic soil screening values (SSV) from 17 countries for 11 volatile organic contaminants (VOC). The variation between SSV was one to four orders-of- magnitude (OOM) depending on the SSV and landuse type. What would be the variation if parameter values are harmonized between member states? The effect of harmonization was visualized by firstly reviewing the technical derivation procedure for SSV for 7 SSV from five countries and collecting all parameter values that are involved in the deviation. The parameters were subdivided in scientific (e.g. algorithm plus its parameter values), political (e.g. toxicological reference) or geographical (e.g. building and soil properties) elements. Secondly, new SSV were calculated with progressively harmonized sets of scientific andlor political parameter values, while the geographical parameters varied. Thirdly, the variation between SSV was compared before and after harmonization. Results show that harmonizing algorithms plus other scientific and political parameters are suited for harmonization. The variation decreases to I OOM, after scientific and political parameters were harmonized. Geographical parameters seem to have less impact on the differences between SSV. So, should we harmonize the procedures for deriving SSV between EU member states? The need for discussing harmonization is also raised by the upcoming EU Soil Framework Directive. Clearly common generic SSV across all of Europe are not appropriate, since countries are allowed to include member state specific geographical and cultural elements and also political decision making. By harmonizing scientific andlor political parameters differences between SSV can be made more transparent between member states and it will encourage convergence in procedures among member states to ensure neutral conditions of competition and a coherent soil protection regime throughout Europe. To promote uniformity it is recommended to construct a toolbox for the calculation of human health risk exposure, carried by a European consensus, that includes different model algorithms for which fixed and flexible input parameters are made available. Fixed algorithm parameters are standardized and applied uniformly by all member states, e.g. physico- chemical parameters, while flexible input parameters permits member states to include region or country specific parameter values and policy decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to build on ongoing work in east central Europe and the former Soviet Union—in geography and beyond—to think through the conceptualisation of post-socialism. The rationale for this is threefold. Firstly, we see a need to understand post-socialist conditions as they are lived and experienced by those in the region. Secondly, we seek to challenge the persistent tendency to marginalise the experiences of the non-western world in a discourse of globalisation and universalisation. Thirdly, we identify a need to ask how the conditions of post-socialism reshape our theorising more widely. Centring our analysis on history, geography and difference, we review a wide range of perspectives on the socialist and post-socialist, but argue for a strategic essentialism that recognises post-socialist difference without eclipsing differences. In outlining how we might understand history, geography and difference in post-socialism, we draw on key theorisations from post-colonialism (such as the articulation of the post- with the pre-, the relationship to the west, the rethinking of histories/categories, the end of the post) and outline post-socialisms that are partial and not always explanatory but nevertheless important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the teaching of the values of space, and the development of sustainable regions, as viewed through a prism of values, and which should become an integral part of the geography curriculum. The author is convinced that new methodologies for the teaching of space-related topics in primary and secondary schools across Europe should be found. Therefore, this paper deals with the results of an international survey carried out in Slovenia, Poland, Italy, Greece and Montenegro, which aimed to define the main preferences and obstacles encountered by teachers and their students towards the various teaching aids presently employed within this subject area, and looks at the differences between expectation, and the actual delivery. Using the results of this survey, the author suggests possibilities for the development of geography teaching; particularly with regard to subject areas concerning sustainable development, values of space, and increasing the public awareness of both. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces multinational firms in a new economic geography model. There, unskilled labor mobility leads to less concentration of production than skilled labor mobility does. This is in line with empirical evidence that agglomeration of production in Europe is less pronounced than in the United States. The different patterns in (skilled versus unskilled) labor mobility together with the presence of multinational firms form one explanation of the actual differences in the spreading of industries in Europe as compared to the US [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper begins with Jacques Derrida's ‘Europe’ on an-Other heading and Claudio Minca's (2003 Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 21 160–8) suggestion that critical human geographers need to become more attentive to their own geographical predispositions and positionalities. The paper focuses on some lessons from postcolonial writing and asks to what extent we have been successful in decolonizing (and reshaping) geographies of Europe in the ways in which we respond to transformations at the borders of Europe. The paper concludes with a discussion of efforts to ‘provincialize’ and decolonize Euro-geographies, and the kinds of ‘new cartographies’ of Europe we might write and teach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the uneven geography of COVID‐19‐related excess mortality during the first wave of the pandemic in Europe, before assessing the factors behind the geographical differences in impact. The analysis of 206 regions across 23 European countries reveals a distinct COVID‐19 geography. Excess deaths were concentrated in a limited number of regions—expected deaths exceeded 20% in just 16 regions—with more than 40% of the regions considered experiencing no excess mortality during the first 6 months of 2020. Highly connected regions, in colder and dryer climates, with high air pollution levels, and relatively poorly endowed health systems witnessed the highest incidence of excess mortality. Institutional factors also played an important role. The first wave hit regions with a combination of weak and declining formal institutional quality and fragile informal institutions hardest. Low and declining national government effectiveness, together with a limited capacity to reach out across societal divides, and a frequent tendency to meet with friends and family were powerful drivers of regional excess mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a systematic literature review of how market-based instruments can influence the development of sustainable innovation. Our analysis of empirical papers published in selected peer-reviewed journals from 1992 to 2021 shows that contextual factors such as geography and industrial sector impact whether market-based instruments successfully stimulate firms to adopt sustainable innovation. Interestingly, while most of our selected papers on East Asia report positive effects of market-based instruments, about half of the papers on Europe report negative or non-significant effects. Moreover, we appear to uncover a link between the research method they use for analysis and the observed effectiveness of market-based instruments. We reflect on the limitations and bias in current methodological approaches and discuss explanations for our findings, implications for policymakers, and avenues for future research. • We review the effect of market-based instruments on sustainable innovation. • Results from 76 empirical papers show mixed effects. • The observed effect appears to depend on geography and the research method applied. • Instruments appear more effective in East Asia than in Europe. • Reported effectiveness is higher in studies using patent data versus surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While earlier accounts approach the informal economy as a sign of underdevelopment, particularly in the Global South, recent studies tend to re‐frame informal economic practices by acknowledging how it allows various actors to create spaces to manoeuvre. In this context, scholars emphasise the multiple linkages between formal and informal economic domains. To push this notion of intersected practices further, we move away from the notion of the 'informal sector' – as a domain with clear demarcations and introduce the notion of in/formal circuits. The latter highlights the multiple interrelations between activities and fluid geographies involved. From this starting point we analyse the socio‐economic activities of Senegalese and Gambian migrants living in Europe. Based on ethnographic fieldwork that started in Barcelona but also involved other places, we illustrate the ways they navigate in/formal circuits and the extent to which these navigations come with mobility within Europe, and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This editorial introduces a special issue and its different contributions. We provide an overarching background for the special issue by situating it in the context of the European Union integration process and through a general discussion of the role of intermarriage in establishing links across borders. The importance of studying union formation, that is, marriages between Europeans in the context of the European Single Market is discussed. We argue that marriages between Europeans can promote the development of trans-European solidarity ties and may in this regard contribute to European identity formation. This article introduces the goals of the different research pieces in the special issue and outlines the overarching issues that are demonstrated by the papers collectively. We conclude that European binational marriages are still rather rare and that binational European couples are not a homogenous group. Our findings point towards the continued relevance of local geography, migrant history and patterns, as well as cultural and linguistic similarities for partner choice in a unified Europe. We call for a more integrated approach and a clear research agenda setting for the further study of union formation and dissolution in the European single market. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we performed phylogenetic analyses of Mesotriton alpestris populations from the entire range of species distribution, using fragments of two mtDNA genes, cytochrome b (309bp) and 16S rRNA ( approximately 500bp). Sequence diversity patterns and phylogenetic analyses reveal the existence of a relict lineage (Clade A) of late Miocene origin, comprising populations from south-eastern Serbia. This lineage is proposed to be ancestor to a western and an eastern lineage, which diverged during the middle Pliocene. The western lineage is further divided in two clades (Clades B, C) of middle Pliocene origin that represent populations from Italy (B) and populations from central Europe and Iberia (C). Further subdivision, dated back to the middle-late Pliocene, was found within the eastern lineage, representing southern (Clade D) and central-northern (Clade E) Balkan populations, respectively. Extensive sequence divergence, implying greater isolation in multiple refugia, is found within eastern clades, while the western clades seem to have been involved in the colonization of central, western and north-eastern Europe from a hypothetical refugium in central Europe. The extent of divergence does not support the current taxonomy indicating cryptic speciation in the Balkans, while paedomorphic lineages were found to have been evolved during early-middle Pleistocene probably as a response to the ongoing dramatic climatic oscillations.

In a number of practical cases it is important to determine the likely geographical origin of an individual or a biological sample. A dead body, old bones or a sample of semen may be available. Information on where the sample might come from can assist investigation or research. The first part of this paper is independent of specific data structure. We formulate the problem as a classification problem. Bayes' theorem allows different sources of information or data to be reconciled conveniently. The main part of the paper involves high dimensional data for which simple, standard methods are not likely to work properly. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) data is a typical example of such data. We propose a procedure involving essentially two steps. First, principal component analysis is used to reduce the dimension of the data. Next, quadratic discriminant analysis performs the actual classification. A cross validation procedure is implemented to select the optimal number of principal components. The importance of using separate data sets for model fitting and testing is emphasized. This method distinguishes well between individuals with a self reported European (Icelandic or German) origin and SE Africans. In this case the error rate is 2.0%.

The geography of education, especially at subnational level, is a huge black box. Little is known about the distribution of educational attainment and inequality across regions in Europe. This paper addresses this gap in the literature by mapping educational attainment and inequality in 102 regions in Western Europe, using data extracted from the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) covering more than 100,000 individuals over the period 1995–2000. The results of this Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) reveal a strong correlation between levels of educational attainment and inequality across regions in Europe. Regions with similar educational conditions tend to cluster, often within national borders. In addition, a North–South and an urban–rural dimension are evident. Northern regions and large European metropoli have not only the most-educated labour force but also the lowest levels of inequality. Educational inequality seems to be, in any case, a fundamentally within-region phenomenon: 90 percent of the educational inequality in Europe occurs among individuals living in the same region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

No matter how the North is demarcated, the Russian Federation constitutes a significant share. Already its mere physical size and numerous neighboring states make Russia a noteworthy player and its actions, or lack thereof, are likely to affect other countries. Accordingly, it is in the interests of these countries to try to have a say in the direction that development in Russia takes. Many European policies and instruments aimed at influencing Russia's development have, however, approached the country as an object rather than a subject. Russia has often taken these asymmetric approaches with a pinch of salt. This paper examines the Northern Dimension of the European Union as an example of a policy tool that stands a chance to have a strong impact on how Russia regards cooperation with its northern European neighbors and, in consequence, the entire order and balance in a changing North. Positive experiences from an equal partnership within this context may function as a usable springboard to further development and prompt other regional initiatives elsewhere. It is only through such experience that Russia may reject its tenacious strong state discourse and enable the kind of openness that international cooperation would entail. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

National curricula are being challenged and transformed by the impact of migration and European integration. This paper examines how cultural diversity and Europe are intertwined in geography, history, and citizenship education curricula in Greece, Germany, and England. This question is explored using quantitative and qualitative methods through a case study of curriculum content and discourses of 5 years compulsory schooling in all three countries. One might expect Germany and Greece, which have historically embraced a more monocultural vision, as having largely similar approaches. Yet, the cross-national analysis illustrates that the relationships between European and multicultural values are put together in rather different ways depending on the school subject. Whilst history is ethnocentric in all three countries, Greek geography and citizenship curricula veer between ethnocentrism and Europeanism. In contrast, in England, notions of multicultural Britishness are reinforced in geography and citizenship education. German curricula privilege national and European topics, but attempts have been made to address diversity, particularly in geography. Curriculum analyses have hitherto largely focused on either national and European dimensions or multicultural and global dimensions. This study provides new insights into how these dimensions intersect and their combined effect on migration and citizenship education in European societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cultural understandings and expectations vary across time, geography and experience. It is therefore difficult to know where to pitch the levels of interpretation of cultures to make them meaningful to the visitors. What are seen as recognisable patterns are culturally specific and formulations of these have to be understood in welcoming tourists from different cultural backgrounds. On a simplistic level, these can be seen in the stereotypes, which exist in countries about people from other countries or even different regions within the same country. The stereotypes are not wrong (and indeed they are not right) but they capture an amalgamation of characteristics ascribed to certain peoples. They are an example of cultural production at a very informal level which can permeate a society and inform the cultural understandings of the tourists. This paper attempts to unpack the dynamic relationship between the different types of cultures involved in the complex construction of cultural tourism. What this paper tries and explores, is how this authenticity can be recognised and how it can be differently constituted through different relationships in the promotion, development and consumption of cultural tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a previous study (Portnov and Erell, 1998a), an Index of Clustering was defined, which allowed an analysis of the combined effect of spatial isolation and remoteness of peripheral towns on the long-term patterns of their population growth. In the present paper, the analysis of the effect of clustering of the urban field on the patterns of population growth is extended to centrally located urban places, and the validity of this index is tested in two unevenly populated countries--Israel and Norway. In both countries, the effect of clustering of the urban field on the patterns of urban growth is twofold. In sparsely populated areas, the presence of neighboring towns appears to increase their chances of attracting potential migrants due to inter-urban exchanges, while in more densely populated areas, increasing clustering tends to reduce migration influx to a given locality due to inter-town competition. Following this conclusion, a strategy of "redirecting priorities" leading to the formation of urban clusters is proposed, which may enhance the potential of urban growth in geographical areas where this is desirable.

A basic result of new economic geography (NEG) models is that the proximity to consumer markets impacts wages and employment within regions. The ongoing process of European integration, being targeted on the reduction of barriers to trade and factor mobility, has presumably changed relative market access in Europe. The present paper aims to provide some evidence on spatial effects of integration caused by declining border impediments and changing market potentials. The analysis is based on a three-region economic geography model. We focus on the impact of integration on European internal border regions and the question of whether they realise above average integration benefits. The empirical analysis concerns integration effects in the EU15 regions arising from a reduction of non-tariff and other barriers since the mid 1970s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]