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Though scholars often argue that the relationship between procedural and distributive justice is crucial in planning practice, conceptual and empirical contributions are rare in the literature. In this paper, we suggest an analytical framework to better understand how procedural and distributive justice are interrelated in local development actions. Drawing on empirical findings from 22 case studies across Europe we identify promoting and inhibiting factors influencing the relationship between procedural and distributive justice. The paper contributes to linking the conceptual discourse of justice in planning to the analysis of actual local cases by focussing on a number of dimensions and categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In small towns with ageing societies, the voices of the young often tend to get marginalized in local policy discourse. The paper explores how young people are trying to counter this trend through the creation of a self-organized youth and sociocultural centre in Görlitz, a town that suffered major transformation in the aftermath of German reunification. Görlitz also made national headlines when a Eurosceptic right-wing party gained a large share of votes in recent elections. In this context, it is quite surprising to see an initiative like the sociocultural centre emerge and grow into a relevant urban development player. By combining research on youth participation and spatial (in)justice, the paper argues in favour of the important role of youth as active drivers of local development and creators of less institutionalized platforms for democratic engagement. In transformation towns such as Görlitz, initiatives like the youth and sociocultural centre can be game changers in terms of countering spatial injustices by creating positive narratives over the town, fostering pluralistic public discourse, and preventing youth outmigration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many sparsely-populated regions in Europe are or perceive that they are left behind because of a reduced presence of public and private services in the area in comparison to more densely-populated urban areas. One solution that has been proposed to overcome issues of spatial injustice in these areas is the digitalization of public services. The use of new technologies can be a means to provide similar services in rural as in urban areas and to reduce costs. However, when services are becoming digitalized, in regions with ageing populations, spatial and social digital divides might increase. Could policies that deliberately involve local knowledge and stakeholders overcome such divides? This article analyses how far place-based strategies for the digitalization of services can overcome (perceptions of) spatial injustice in rural and sparsely-populated regions. It is based on findings from a Swedish and a German case study and raises the need to give more attention to social and organizational aspects in rural digitalization policies. We argue that place-based digitalization policies can make a difference if planned in a fair, transparent, and inclusive way and considering local communities' perceptions of injustice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have seen a vivid debate on the epistemological foundations of comparative urban research. Remarkably, comparative case study research practice has remained unaffected by these wider debates and empirical research processes often stay a 'black box'. Thus, we identify an unmet need for a critical and transparent reflection of conceptual foundations and empirical processes. Based on a review of EU-funded projects in the field of territorial cohesion, we discuss minimum standards of comparative case study research. These standards encompass the theoretical framework of the study, the objective of comparison, questions regarding the ambition to generalize, the case study selection strategy, and potential trade-offs. We conclude that researchers should be more explicit in their way of carrying out comparative research. Eventually, this transparency supports both a fruitful debate on comparative case study designs and the soundness of academic and policy conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on research projects over the last years, this paper presents findings from three German towns and regions confronted with peripheralisation processes. It is based on the relational concept of peripheralisation which describes long-term processes of continued outmigration, infrastructure and decision network disconnection, dependency on external funding and Stigmatisation. The towns examined in this paper are, to some extent, located in geographic centres. However, they failed to draw noticeable development stimuli from this spatial centrality at this point in time. A comparative perspective will focus on spaces of agency of the towns from a (multilevel) governance perspective and from one of path creation. We argue that research on peripheralisation benefits from multi-disciplinary research, integrating political science, history and spatial science perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking an everyday life setting, namely playgrounds, as a starting point, the paper foregrounds a nuanced analysis of the internal differentiations of the middle class's positioning in regard to social diversity. In so doing, the paper contributes to debates on contemporary segregation research, (dis-)affiliation of the middle classes in inner-city diverse neighbourhoods and geographies of encounter. Empirical findings are based on an analysis of the narratives and daily spatial routines of middle-class parents in three inner-city neighbourhoods in a major German town. The findings contradict the conventional wisdom that middle-class parents would always seek a socially homogeneous environment in which to raise their children and show the presence of a middle-class fraction with a collective orientation. The analysis highlights the need for a closer look at playgrounds as a setting for cross-social interaction and, in terms of micro-level politics, a setting to promote diverse and inclusive neighbourhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]