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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]

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]

PINCH S. and HENRY N. (1999) Paul Krugman's geographical economics, industrial clustering and the British motor sport industry, Reg. Studies 33, 815-827. Paul Krugman is one of a growing band of economists who have discovered the importance of the region in stimulating national economic competitiveness. Whilst the early reactions to his ideas by geographers tended to be hostile, there have recently been calls by geographers for a more considered view of his concepts. This paper examines the utility of Krugman's ideas for explaining the geographical cluster of small firms constituted by the British motor sport industry. It is argued that Krugman's emphasis upon accidents of history and external economies of scale provides only partial insights into the reasons for the evolution and maintenance of this industrial agglomeration. Greater insights are provided by an approach which focuses upon the dissemination of knowledge through the concept of untraded interdependencies. PINCH S. et HENRY N. (1999) L'économie géographique d'après Paul Krugman, l'agglomération industrielle et l'industrie du sport automobile en Grande-Bretagne, Reg. Studies 33, 815-827. Paul Krugman fait partie d'un groupe d'économistes de plus en plus nombreux qui ont découvert l'importance de la région en tant que catalyseur quant à la compétitivité économique nationale. Tandis que les premières réactions des géographes à ses idées avaient tendance à être hostiles, plus récemment un avis plus réfléchi de ses idées a été réclamé. Cet article cherchè a examiner l'utilité des idées de Krugman pour expliquer l'agglomération géographique des petites entreprises qui constituent l'industrie du sport automobile en Grande-Bretagne. On affirme que l'accent que met Krugman sur les effets ponctuels et les économies d'échelle externes ne donne que des aperçus partiels sur l'évolution et le maintien de cette agglomération industrielle. Une façon qui porte sur la diffusion des connaissances par l'idée des interdépendances non-commerciales donne des aperçus plus clairs. PINCH S. und HENRY N. (1999) Paul Krugmans geographische Wirtschaftswissenschaft, industrielle Ballung und die britische Autorennsportindustrie, Reg. Studies 33, 815-827. Paul Krugman gehört zu der immer zahlreicher werdenden Schar der Wirtschaftswissenschaftler, welche die Bedeutung der Region bei der Belebung der wirtschaftlichen Wettbewerbsfähigkeit eines Landes entdeckt haben. Obschon anfänglich die Reaktion der Geographen auf seine Ideen meist feindlicher Natur waren, gab es in jüngster Zeit unter ihnen Aufrufe zu abwägenderer Betrachtung seiner Vorstellungen. Dieser Aufsatz untersucht die Nützlichkeit der krugmanschen Ideen zur Erklärung der geographischen Ballung kleiner Firmen, welche die britische Autorennsportindustrie bilden. Es wird die Ansicht vertreten, daß Krugmans Betonung historischer Zufälle und äußerlichen Einsparungen durch gesteigerte Produktivität nur teilweise Einsichten in Gründe für Entwicklung und Fortbestand dieser industriellen Ballung liefert. Vertiefte Einsichten werden durch ein Angehen vermittelt, das sich auf die Vebreitung von Kenntnissen durch das Konzept einer vom Handel nicht berücksichtigten-wechselseitigen Abhängigkeit konzentriert. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]