SS1. Water and Territorial Sustainability: Tourism, Circular Economy and Financial Challenges

Coordinators: Vicent Hernández-Chover¹, Cororina del Carmen Cardozo Molina¹  y Cristina Caldereri²

¹ Instituto Interuniversitario de Desarrollo Local. Universitat de València
² Università degli Studi di Enna «Kore»

The sustainable management of water resources represents one of the main challenges facing contemporary societies, with direct implications for territorial development, economic competitiveness, and social cohesion. Water is a strategic asset whose availability, quality, and efficient use determine regional growth, the viability of productive sectors, and the resilience of ecosystems to climate change.

The increasing pressure on this resource—resulting from overexploitation, pollution, climate seasonality, and the demands of tourism and agribusiness—requires innovative approaches that integrate economic efficiency, the circular economy, and new technologies into decision-making. In this regard, the circular economy offers a framework with great potential: from the reuse of treated wastewater to the energy recovery of sewage sludge. At the same time, artificial intelligence and advanced quantitative methods open new possibilities for optimizing the efficiency of water infrastructure, anticipating asset failures, and designing more equitable tariff policies adapted to each territorial context.

In Mediterranean regions, the link between water and tourism takes on a particularly critical dimension: tourist seasonality subjects the urban water cycle to pressures that are hardly compatible with sustainability, demanding innovative economic instruments—such as fees linked to the actual consumption of the resource—capable of internalizing its real cost. This logic of economic valuation of water connects directly with a broader structural trend: the increasing financialization of the economy, which introduces short-term performance criteria into water supply and infrastructure, and raises fundamental questions about allocative efficiency, equity of access, and the compatibility between private profitability and public sustainability, with direct consequences for territorial governance and regulatory frameworks.

This session brings together research that, from an economic, territorial, and methodological perspective, contributes knowledge, empirical evidence, and innovative solutions to more efficient, circular, and intelligent water management.

SS2. Territorial Medicine, a Regional Science Approach

Coordinators: Tomaz Ponce Dentinho, tomas.lc.dentinho@uac.pt , University of Azores, Azores, Portugal and Abdul Shaban, shaban.tissmail@gmail.com , Tata Institute of Technology, India

The term Territorial Medicine relates to research aimed to heal the diseases of people and places, signalling a shift from “Information that” related to knowledge to “Information how” related to wisdom.

Authors can identify territorial diseases and suggest ways to address them:

• Left behind People and Places,
• Wars and Conflicts,
• Wildfires and Environmental Hazards,
• Gentrification and Crime,
• Poverty and dependency of people and places
• Policy, Market and Institutional Failures

The purpose of the session is to publish a special issue of the Journal of Development Policy and Practice: Sage Journals that compile papers focused on emergent and urgent topics related to peoples and places’ interactions within space, with interdisciplinary replicable methods, and effective evidence for sustainable regional development.

SS3. Barcelona City of Knowledge and the Genesis of 22@: A Tribute Session to Joan Trullén Thomas

Coordinators: Rafael Boix Domènech (University of Valencia) and Vittorio Galletto (Metropoli Institute and Autonomous University of Barcelona).

The renewal of the Poblenou industrial areas and their transformation into the 22@BCN Business District is one of the most significant economic and urban development projects in European metropolises over the last 30 years. With this transformation, Barcelona prioritized a shift in its economic base, placing residential construction on new urban foundations.

In this session, we will review the economic foundations of the Barcelona City of Knowledge model and pay tribute to one of its intellectual architects: Joan Trullén Thomas.

SS4. Digital Transformation, Artificial Intelligence, and Regional Development: Productivity, Competitiveness, and Territorial Dynamics

Coordinadores: Albert Miró Pérez – amiroperez@uoc.edu,  Carles Méndez-Ortega – cmendezor@uoc.edu and Joan Torrent-Sellens – jtorrent@uoc.edu – Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)

We invite submissions to a Special Session focused on the intersections between digital transformation, artificial intelligence (AI), and territorial development. The session aims to gather contributions that examine how emerging digital technologies reshape regional economies, firm performance, and sustainable development trajectories.

We welcome papers addressing (but not limited to) the following themes:

• The impact of AI adoption on firm-level productivity, competitiveness, and innovation.
• The role of territories, spatial structures, and regional assets in enabling or constraining digital transformation.
• Interactions between AI, industrial structure, human capital, and regional specialization.
• The contribution of digitalization and AI to sustainability, resilience, and regional transitions.
• Comparative or case-study analyses exploring digital and technological gaps across regions.

Papers presented in this Special Session could be eligible for consideration for a forthcoming Special Issue of the Journal of Regional Research, which will be announced during 2026.

We look forward to receiving contributions that advance our understanding of how AI and digital transformation interact with regional dynamics, shaping new opportunities and challenges for firms and territories alike.

SS5. Geopolitical Transformation: National Defense, Territorial Resilience, and Regional Development in Contexts of Complex Risks (online)

Coordinators: Eva López González and Claudia Ximena Aguirre

National defense has evolved from a strictly military approach to a broader conception that integrates economic, technological, social, and territorial dimensions, in response to an international environment characterized by hybrid threats and complex risks. In this context, defense is understood as a cross-cutting public policy involving multiple actors and incorporating areas such as cybersecurity, critical infrastructure protection, and energy security, highlighting the importance of social and territorial resilience.

From an economic perspective, the defense sector acts as a driver of innovation and development due to its high technological intensity, reliance on public investment, and capacity to generate spillover effects into other sectors through dual-use technologies. Although its relative weight within the overall business structure is limited, its impact is significant in terms of employment, GDP, and innovation, with a dual structure composed of large leading firms and a broad network of specialized SMEs. Moreover, it shows strong territorial concentration, fostering specialization dynamics and cluster formation.

Territory plays a key role as the space where vulnerabilities, strategic capabilities, and critical infrastructures converge. Territorial resilience—understood as the capacity to adapt and transform in the face of disturbances—depends on factors such as economic structure, sectoral diversity, and institutional quality, and is essential for addressing hybrid risks and systemic disruptions.

The analysis is grounded in a multidisciplinary framework that integrates regional science, economic geography, security studies, and complex systems theory. This approach is structured around four main axes: territorial resilience, spatial dynamics of the defense economy, multilevel governance, and expanded security. Multilevel governance is particularly relevant for coordinating policies across different institutional levels, while expanded security incorporates new strategic dimensions with a strong territorial component.

The session proposes to analyze defense from a territorial perspective, addressing its role in territorial organization, regional development, innovation, resilience to complex risks, and governance. It also explores synergies between defense, sustainability, and digital transition, as well as the regional dimension of European strategic autonomy.

Overall, this proposal contributes to broadening the scope of Regional Science by integrating defense as a key factor in shaping resilient, secure, and innovative territories, while fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and the development of new research avenues.

Contributions (theoretical or empirical) are invited on the following topics:

• National defense and territorial organization
• Defense industry, innovation, and regional development
• Technological clusters, infrastructure, and dual-use (civil-military) capabilities
• Cybersecurity and smart territories
• Regional vulnerability, hybrid risks, and territorial resilience
• Regional dimension of European strategic autonomy

SS6. Rethinking Freight Distribution for Smart and Sustainable Territories

Coordinators: Eduard J. Alvarez-Palau (ealvarezp@uoc.edu), Cristian Castillo (ccastillogu@uoc.edu) and Iu Tusell Vila-Abadal (iutusell@uoc.edu). Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)

Freight distribution is undergoing a profound physical and digital reconfiguration. The expansion of e-commerce, the diversification of last-mile delivery models, the growth of logistics-intensive land uses, and the increasing pressure for decarbonisation are transforming how goods arrive to their final customers. At the same time, digitalisation, platformisation, the emergence of artificial intelligence and data-driven management are reshaping logistics operations, while public authorities are being called upon to adapt the regulatory and planning frameworks to balance efficiency, sustainability, accessibility, and social equity.

This Special Session aims to bring together contributions that examine freight distribution from a territorial perspective. Rather than understanding logistics only as an operational or business issue, the session highlights its relevance for regional science, economic geography, transport planning, urban studies, labour relations, and multilevel governance. We are particularly interested in assessing how logistics systems interact with different territorial contexts, including dense urban environments, metropolitan peripheries, intermediate cities, and rural areas.

Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

• Urban freight planning and management
• Governance and agents involved in freight distribution
• Transport infrastructure and logistics facilities
• Data and information systems for freight distribution
• AI and ML techniques applied to freight distribution
• Regulation and public policies affecting freight distribution
• Platformisation and labour conditions in last-mile logistics
• Logistics sprawl and land-use change
• Rural logistics and territorial accessibility

SS7. The interface between Geography and Economics: Regional challenges for health in all policies and socio-territorial cohesion

Coordinators: Olga De Cos Guerra¹ and David Cantarero Prieto²

¹ University of Cantabria. Department of Geography, Urban Planning and Spatial Planning. IDIVAL Health Economics Group.

² University of Cantabria. Department of Economics. IDIVAL Health Economics Group.

The multidisciplinary and multi-scalar approach to health in European regions is strongly shaped by territorial contexts, neighbourhood-level social determinants of health, and unequal opportunities to access health assets provided by local territories and public services.

The role of the social determinants of health and the need for vertical coordination to promote health in all policies is widely recognised on a global scale. Dialogue and the perspective of cooperation from the local administration – which is competent in the territory and therefore in its contribution to health – and the competent regional health authorities are essential. They favour and promote community health, prevention and personalised healthcare, considering the particularities of the territories and efficiency-equity in health (cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness, social return, multi-criteria analysis, etc.).

This integrative approach to health, territory and economy is especially pertinent in the current context of global change, particularly with regard to climate change and demographic change. Current health planning and management models face new challenges – and will do so even more in the future – given the general context of population ageing, population polarisation in the territory and the increase in adverse health phenomena linked to climate change.

On the basis described, the objective of this session is to encourage research with an economic and geographical focus that contributes to the proposed theme by revealing areas of vulnerability, providing economic evaluations, evidencing regional and/or multiscale imbalances, modelling future forecasts or proposing innovative technologies and methodologies, among others.

SS8. Agglomeration, Structural Transformation and Spatial Inequality: New Evidence and Perspectives

Coordinators: Jacob A. Jordaan – Utrecht University School of Economics -Utrecht University, the Netherlands – j.a.jordaan@uu.nl and Rafael Garduño-Rivera – School of Economics and Business – University of Navarra, Spain – rgarduno@unav.es

This special session examines the role of agglomeration in shaping the spatial distribution of economic activity and regional inequality. While agglomeration is widely associated with productivity gains, knowledge spillovers, and enhanced competitiveness, a growing body of research highlights its uneven spatial consequences. By concentrating economic activity, infrastructure, and skilled labour in a limited number of locations, agglomeration can contribute to persistent regional disparities and spatial polarisation.

At the same time, recent empirical evidence points to a more complex spatial dynamic in which processes of regional convergence may coexist with increasing spatial concentration and polarisation. Understanding how these seemingly contradictory developments interact remains a central challenge in regional economics. This session therefore focuses on the interplay between agglomeration, structural transformation, and global economic integration in shaping evolving spatial economic structures.

The session brings together contributions that analyse how agglomeration dynamics interact with broader processes of structural change. Particular attention is given to the ways in which trade liberalisation, participation in global value chains, technological change, and labour mobility reshape the geography of economic activity across regions, and how these forces influence the persistence or transformation of regional inequalities over time.

We welcome both empirical and theoretical papers that investigate the relationship between agglomeration and spatial inequality at different geographical scales. Contributions may focus on long-run dynamics, regional adjustment processes, or the measurement and interpretation of spatial concentration and polarisation. The session aims to provide new insights into the conditions under which agglomeration-driven development contributes to spatial divergence or convergence, and how these processes shape long-run patterns of regional inequality.

SS9. Blue economy, territory and sustainability: blue tourism and mediterranean fisheries

Coordinators: Adelaida Lillo Bañuls and Maria Covadonga Ordoñez García, University of Alicante

This session would address the blue economy in general and its impact on the region. Particular attention would be paid to two sectors of great importance for regional development: blue tourism (coastal tourism and cruises) and its sustainable approaches, and the fisheries sector, focusing on the impact of sustainable fishing and European regulations for this sector, particularly regarding Mediterranean fisheries. How has the Mediterranean demersal plan impacted the region in a sector that is essential for food sovereignty and the development of coastal communities?

SS10. The transformation of the economic model in the Valencian Community

Coordinators: Emili Tortosa, Universitat Jaume I, tortosa@uji.es, Luisa Alamá, Universitat Jaume I, alama@uji.es, Paloma Taltavull, Universidad de Alicante, paloma@gcloud.ua.es; Norat Roig Tierno, Universitat Politècnica de València,  norat.roig@upv.es>, Francesc Hernández, Universitat de València, francesc.hernandez@uv.es y José Vicente Segura, Universidad Miguel Hernández, jvsh@umh.es

The Network of Chairs for the Transformation of the Economic Model, established in 2020 through the collaboration between the Generalitat Valenciana and the five public universities in the region, represents an academic platform aimed at knowledge generation, the transfer of research outcomes, and support for public policy design. In this context, the Network fosters cooperation between academia and public administration, contributing to the analysis of key economic challenges and to the design of strategies aimed at modernising the productive system.

The special session will focus on issues related to the productive model and its transformation processes, serving as a forum for discussion and the exchange of experiences. In this framework, the session will bring together contributions addressing, from different perspectives, the main research lines related to the transformation of the productive model. These include the analysis of urban economics and city development, the study of value chains and the efficiency of the productive system, the adoption of digital technologies and their impact on productive sectors, digital transformation and productivity enhancement, social and inclusive innovation, as well as the promotion of the circular economy as a strategy to advance towards a more sustainable model.

Furthermore, particular attention will be paid to the territorial dimension of these processes, considering the differences between urban and rural areas, as well as the challenges related to economic and social cohesion. All these lines share a common objective: to contribute to the development of a more competitive, resilient, and sustainable economic model, based on innovation, knowledge, openness to external markets, and a balanced approach to economic growth, social well-being, and environmental sustainability.

SS11. Wine Tourism, Dairy Tourism, and Olive Oil Tourism in Castilla-La Mancha

Coordinator: Natividad Araque-Hontangas

Wine tourism, dairy tourism, and olive oil tourism have become important sources of income in various towns in Castilla-La Mancha. This special session will feature presentations (we already have four confirmed speakers) on research into the evolution of farms that have transitioned from purely agricultural activities to offering tourism experiences linked to wine, olive oil, and Manchego cheese. The presentations will emphasize sustainable tourism and the strengthening of certain towns that, through these forms of tourism, not only prevent depopulation but also attract new residents to work in these tourism sectors.

SS12. Exploring the long-term effects of transportation in regional development

Coordinators: Eduard J. Alvarez-Palau (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya), Guillermo Esteban-Oliver (Universidad de Zaragoza) and Jordi Martí-Henneberg (Universitat de Lleida)

Transport infrastructure drives long-term social and economic change by steering and reshaping market integration, population dynamics or the spatial distribution of economic activity. This session brings together recent quantitative research at the intersection of regional science, economic history and historical economic geography on the long-term effects of transport on diverse territorial outcomes. We welcome contributions that exploit new data sources, georeferenced and longitudinal datasets, new analytical methodologies, and modern causal identification strategies to examine how successive transport eras -from railways and ports to highways and high-speed networks- have reshaped regions over time.

Topics may include market access, agglomeration and dispersion, structural change, urban systems, regional inequality, and the persistence of transport-induced spatial patterns. Papers on any period or geographical context are welcome, with particular interest in work that connects historical legacies to present-day regional dynamics and contributes evidence-based knowledge for the design of more sustainable territorial futures.

SS13.Tourism as regional diversification? Rethinking tourism’s role in regional twin transitions

Coordinators: Julie Wilson, NOUTUR Research Group, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (jwilson2@uoc.edu)  y  Lluís Garay Tamajón, NOUTUR Research Group, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (lgaray@uoc.edu)

From a regional science perspective, tourism has traditionally been approached as a sector of regional specialisation, but less often as a possible driver —or limit— of economic diversification and territorial transformations. In the current global context of polycrisis, increasingly shaped by the digital and green (twin) transition, reconfigured value chains and labour organisation, platformisation and new socio-spatial vulnerabilities, conditions are arguably ripe for reconsidering tourism’s role in regional development trajectories and transitions more broadly. These transformations can have differential impacts across territories, organisations and social groups, often generating new configurations of winners and losers.

This Special Session of the AECR 2026 aims to examine tourism through the lens of
evolutionary and relational approaches to economic geography and their dialogue with
research on regional transitions. Rather than assuming that tourism automatically generates growth, resilience or sustainability, the session invites contributions exploring the conditions under which tourism may foster related diversification, path plasticity and new forms of institutional / social innovation (including business and organisational innovation), as well as the contexts in which it may reinforce path dependencies, lock-in dynamics and more vulnerable forms of specialisation. This can include not only platform-based models but also alternative configurations rooted in the social and solidarity economy, cooperative structures and community-based initiatives, which can offer more redistributive and place-based development pathways.

The session welcomes theoretical and empirical contributions that address tourism’s role in regional transitions from a comparative, critical and multi-scalar perspective. Particular attention will be paid to topics such as:

●​ tourism and regional diversification;
●​ evolutionary approaches to regional tourism development;
●​ twin transition and socio-spatial restructuring;
●​ digital platforms and the reorganisation of value;
●​ social media ecosystems and value creation;
●​ organisational innovation;
●​ sustainability, resilience and spatial justice;
●​ multilevel governance and place-based policies;
●​ labour, gender/intersectionality and inequalities in tourism regions;
●​ platform-mediated / gig work and emerging hybrid models (digital nomadism/workation);
●​ emerging articulations between tourism and other sectors in processes of regional transition.

Contributions addressing the role of alternative economy initiatives, cooperative tourism models and community-led platforms in fostering more inclusive and spatially embedded development pathways are especially encouraged.

An initiative of the NOUTUR Research Group of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain in the framework of the the TWINTUR project (twin transitions and polycrisis in tourism, reference PID2024-162019OB-I00), this session aims to contribute to current debates in regional science approaches to tourism in relation to structural transitions, territorial adaptation and more sustainable and inclusive regional futures.

Keywords: Tourism regions; regional diversification; twin transition; evolutionary economic geography, polycrisis, spatial development

SS14. EU Research and Innovation Policies, Technological Change and Regional Human Capital Dynamics

Coordinators: Stefano Fusaro – European Commission – Joint Research Center – stefano.fusaro@ec.europa.eu, Silvia Rocchetta – European Commission – Joint Research Center – silvia.rocchetta@ec.europa.eu  and Andrea Conte – European Commission – Joint Research Center – andrea.conte@ec.europa.eu

The European Union is undergoing profound structural transformations driven by the green and digital transitions, heightened geopolitical uncertainty, and the imperative to strengthen economic resilience and strategic autonomy. In this context, European Research and Innovation (R&I) policies — spanning Horizon Europe, the Recovery and Resilience Facility, and cohesion-related innovation instruments — have become central in shaping regional development trajectories across Europe.

Innovation and technological change are strongly territorial in nature. Regions differ substantially in their productive structures, institutional capacities, innovation ecosystems, labour market characteristics, and human capital endowments. As a result, the capacity to absorb, generate, and diffuse innovation is unevenly distributed across space — potentially reinforcing existing path-dependent regional disparities while simultaneously opening new pathways for convergence and economic transformation.

Technological upgrading and innovation-led growth also carry significant implications for labour markets, skills demand, educational investment, and social cohesion. The diffusion of advanced technologies, digitalisation, automation, and green innovation may reshape incentives for human capital accumulation, restructure occupational profiles, and produce differentiated territorial impacts depending on regional specialisation and institutional context. Understanding these dynamics is essential for designing place-sensitive policies that advance both competitiveness and territorial cohesion.

This Special Session invites theoretical and empirical contributions that examine the relationships among EU R&I policies, technological change, regional transformation, and human capital dynamics. The session aims to foster dialogue across regional science, economic geography, labour economics, innovation studies, and policy analysis.

Topics of interest include, among others:

• EU R&I policies and regional technological trajectories
• Horizon Europe and the territorial distribution of innovation capacities
• Technological change, digitalisation, and regional labour market dynamics
• Human capital formation and educational responses to technological upgrading
• Regional inequalities in innovation, skills, and productivity
• Green and digital transitions and their territorial implications
• Innovation, resilience, and regional economic restructuring
• Universities, research centres, and knowledge diffusion across regions
• Place-based innovation policies and territorial cohesion
• Regional adaptation to automation and artificial intelligence

The session welcomes quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods contributions, including spatial and regional econometric approaches, comparative analyses, and case studies. Contributions addressing policy evaluation and the territorial effects of European innovation and industrial strategies are especially encouraged.

The session aims to advance our understanding of how R&I policies and technological transformations interact with regional development dynamics — contributing to more inclusive, resilient, and knowledge-based territorial futures across Europe

SS15. International immigration and territories: multidimensional effects and the absorptive capacity of local markets

Coordinators: Wladimir Cerda-Cerda, Ricardo MdV Perancho – Co-coordinators: Geoffrey Hewings, Alberto Díaz-Dapena

Motivation and aims

Over the past two decades, international migration flows towards European countries have grown steadily and, at times, at an unprecedented rate. Yet the scale of the phenomenon conceals a fundamental heterogeneity: immigrants differ in their origin, educational background, prior labour market experience, and cultural and linguistic distance from the host society; and the territories that receive them differ in their productive structure, position in the urban hierarchy, degree of labour market saturation, and housing supply constraints.

This special session is premised on the idea that the effects of immigration on territories depend not only on the intensity of the flows, but also on the structural characteristics of receiving markets, which determine their capacity to absorb those flows. Added to this is the heterogeneity of migrants themselves (in terms of human capital, educational credentials, and cultural and linguistic distance from the native population) which interacts with those structural conditions to shape both the effects on host communities and the integration trajectories of immigrants. The session will also welcome proposals that examine the mechanisms of immigrant integration within host societies and the subsequent sociopolitical and economic implications, such as wages and employment, housing price inflation, effects on tax revenues and demand for public goods and services, rise of populist voting behaviour, the incidence of hate crimes, and related social phenomena.

The session aims to bring together empirical and theoretical contributions that deepen our understanding of these effects and their causal mechanisms, with particular attention to the regional and local dimension. Contributions are welcome from economists, geographers, sociologists, and political scientists.

Topics of interest

1. Determinants of localisation and settlement patterns

• Structural characteristics of local markets as pull factors: productive specialisation, occupational structure, labour market conditions, and congestion costs.
• Immigrant self-selection and spatial sorting: which profiles settle in which territories and why.
• Migrant networks and ethnic agglomeration effects, and their role in reproducing patterns of geographic concentration.

2. Consequences for territories and host communities

Labour market

• Effects on the employment, wages, and occupational mobility of native workers.
• Recognition of foreign educational credentials and its effect on immigrants’ labour market integration.
• The role of cultural, linguistic, and religious distance in shaping integration trajectories and native attitudes towards immigrants.

Housing market

• Impact of migration flows on residential property prices and rents.
• Spatial segregation and residential concentration of immigrant populations.
• Housing supply constraints as a mediating factor in the effects of immigration.

Wellbeing, perceptions, and political behaviour

• Effects of immigration on the subjective wellbeing and social cohesion of host communities.
• Native perceptions and attitudes towards immigration and immigrant populations
• The impact of exposure to immigration on electoral behaviour, voting for populist or far-right parties, and shifts in the political preferences of native populations.

Structural change and territorial dynamics

• The contribution of immigration to sectoral transformation and innovation in territories.
• Heterogeneous effects across the urban hierarchy: metropolitan areas, intermediate cities, and rural areas.
• Internal migration as a native response to international immigration flows.

Methodological approach

Contributions adopting rigorous causal identification strategies in the analysis of immigration are particularly welcome (instrumental variables, regression discontinuity designs, difference-in-differences, natural experiments, etc). Contributions drawing on qualitative or mixed-methods approaches that shed light on underlying mechanisms are also considered.

Abstract submission

Abstracts should not exceed 500 words and must include: research question, empirical strategy or methodology, data sources, and main findings (where available). Contributions may be submitted in either Spanish or English.

SS16. Places of Opportunity or Mobility Traps? Regional Disparities in Social Mobility

Coordinators: Andrea CONTE – Joint Research Centre-European Commission – Andrea.CONTE@ec.europa.eu and Filippo DI PIETRO (JRC-SEVILLA) – Filippo.DI-PIETRO@ec.europa.eu

Equality of opportunity is a cornerstone of the European social model, yet individuals’ chances of improving their socio-economic position relative to their parents vary substantially across regions. This raises a central question for regional science and policy: why do some places enable upward social mobility while others reproduce disadvantage across generations?

This special session examines the territorial dimension of intergenerational social mobility in Europe. It invites contributions that map and analyse the geography of opportunity, focusing on how regional contexts shape life chances and contribute to persistent inequalities. While intergenerational mobility has often been studied at the national level, less is known about how mobility differs within countries and across European regions, and which territorial factors explain these differences.

The session welcomes empirical and policy-oriented papers investigating the regional determinants of social mobility. Relevant themes include the role of educational opportunities, labour market dynamism, industrial structure, urban-rural divides, demographic change, institutional quality, access to public services, and local social networks. Contributions may also examine how internal and cross-border migration affects mobility, either by expanding opportunities or by reinforcing spatial inequalities through residential sorting and unequal access to regional labour markets.

A key objective is to identify whether some regions act as “social elevators”, offering better prospects for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, while others function as “mobility traps”, where family background and place of origin continue to strongly shape future outcomes. By comparing regional experiences across Europe, the session aims to deepen understanding of the mechanisms linking territorial inequality, social mobility, and social cohesion.

The policy relevance of this topic is significant. Regional disparities in social mobility raise important questions for EU Cohesion Policy, place-based development strategies, and the European Pillar of Social Rights. If opportunities are strongly shaped by territorial conditions, then policies aimed at reducing inequality must consider not only income gaps between regions, but also differences in the capacity of places to support upward mobility.

Ultimately, this session seeks to advance research on how place matters for life chances and how regional policy can help reduce inherited disadvantage. By linking the geography of opportunity with the debate on territorial cohesion, it will provide evidence and insights for designing policies that make individual prospects less dependent on family background and region of birth.

SS17.  Regional logics in the “twin” green and digital transitions

Coordinators: Paloma Yañez Serrano (pyanezser@uoc.edu) and Zora Kovacic (zkovacic@uoc.edu)

Global trends like sustainability and digitalisation do not happen uniformly. They are shaped by local geography, infrastructure, culture, and governance. While both sustainability and digitalisation emphasize that “place matters,” the policy discourses surrounding them often start from opposite directions: sustainability often focuses on protection and resilience, where the local is valuable for its resources and ecosystems, while digitalisation focuses on connectivity and catch-up, where local economies are to be linked to global digital networks to avoid economic stagnation. Current policy (especially in the EU) treats these together as the “Twin Transitions.” The European Green Deal refers to the green and digital “twin transition” and defines digital technologies as “a critical enabler for attaining the sustainability goals of the Green Deal”. Yet, how those two spheres (i.e. the digital and the green) are or ought to be connected has not been spelled out.

In this accelerating turn towards the digital society and economy, it is important to understand how the ‘twinning’ of the digital and the ecological transitions takes place. The digitalisation of intrinsically ecological sectors, such as food and energy, mainstreams specific views and governance processes around nature and creates a technology-based understanding of how to frame and govern environmental problems. By prioritizing algorithmic efficiency, these frameworks often ignore the “unmeasurable” social dimensions, such as the displacement of traditional labour, the loss of indigenous ecological knowledge, and the power asymmetries inherent in data ownership. Is sustainability a matter of lack of precision? Is it merely a challenge of ordering interconnectedness? What is left out of digital problem framings? What kind of social and technological orders are created by digitalisation? How does the marginalisation of social and ecological metrics shape the digital-green initiatives that are being developed? The digital imaginary can significantly change environmental governance, but it is unclear whether it will improve the long-term sustainability (i.e. social, economic, environmental) of key economic sectors.

The panel welcomes papers on the following topics (but not limited to):

• The digital imaginary in governing institutions
• The relationship between AI and social and ecological sustainability
• Digital extractivism and the labor rearrangements of the green-tech supply chain
• The impact of the European Green Deal in the Global South
• Entanglements of the green and digital transitions in specific sectors, geographies, policies
• Perspectives from the ground: promoters, actors, makers, users

SS18. Regions, Equity, and Living Conditions in Latin America: Territorial Inequalities, Resilience, and Development in the Face of Global Shocks

Coordinators: Nathalie Chacon, Director of Economic Autonomy, Secretariat for Women, Federal Government of Mexico, Nicola Pontarollo, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy and Paolo Veneri, Gran Sasso Social Science Institute, L’Aquila, Italy

Over the past two decades, countries around the world have faced a succession of systemic shocks, including economic and financial crises, geopolitical instability, pandemics, and social crises. These shocks have not affected territories uniformly. Their impacts have been uneven across regions, cities, rural areas, and border territories, often exacerbating pre-existing inequalities in income, employment, access to services, quality of life, and social inclusion.

Latin America offers a particularly relevant context for examining these processes. The region is characterized by persistent territorial disparities, high levels of social and economic inequality, institutional heterogeneity, and diverse development trajectories. At the same time, Latin American regions have shown varying capacities to absorb, adapt to, and recover from external shocks, revealing significant differences in resilience, competitiveness, cohesion, and governance.

This special session aims to bring together theoretical, empirical, and policy-oriented contributions that deepen our understanding of how macroeconomic, geopolitical, and social shocks shape regional socioeconomic conditions, with a particular focus on Latin America and its territories. The session invites submissions that employ quantitative, qualitative, spatial, comparative, or mixed-methods approaches.

Contributions may address, among others, the following topics:

• Territorial inequalities and spatial patterns of development
• Regional disparities in living conditions, quality of life, and well-being
• Social exclusion, poverty, vulnerability, and access to opportunities
• Regional resilience to economic, health, political, and social shocks
• Territorial competitiveness, cohesion, and inclusive development
• Urban-rural gaps and peripheral regions
• Migration, demographic change, and regional labor markets
• Regional policies, governance, and institutional responses to shocks

The session particularly encourages contributions focused on understudied territories, subnational evidence, and comparative perspectives across countries. By fostering dialogue among researchers in regional science, economics, geography, urban studies, development studies, sociology, and public policy, the session seeks to advance the debate on territorial inequality and regional development in a rapidly changing global context.

SS19. Social inclusion and wellbeing in rural Europe: future trajectories, regional typologies, impact of social economy, and application of Smart Villages

Coordinators: Thomas Bakratsas (White Research SRL, Research Department, Unit of “Democratic and Inclusive Governance”, Belgium) and Rosina Moreno (University of Barcelona, Faculty of Economics and Business, Department of Econometrics, Spain)

Rural areas across Europe face persistent and emerging challenges related to demographic decline, limited access to services, social exclusion, and uneven territorial opportunities. These challenges are increasingly central to debates on territorial cohesion and the “right to stay”,understood as the capacity of people to remain, thrive, and participate fully in the places where they live. From a regional science perspective, understanding why some rural territories are more exposed to exclusion, which conditions foster resilience and wellbeing, and which strategies can be leveraged is essential for designing more effective place-based policies.

The session aims to discuss how different methodological and empirical approaches can contribute to a better understanding of rural vulnerabilities and opportunities.

Contributions will examine the conceptualisation and measurement of social exclusion in rural areas; the role of global and European drivers shaping future inclusion needs; the development of territorial typologies to support policy design; the impact of social economy actors in supporting inclusive social services; and how Smart Village strategies can be leveraged through Living Lab methodologies. Attention will be paid to vulnerable and marginalised groups, access to services, governance capacity, demographic change, and the diversity of rural trajectories across Europe.

This Special Session brings together recent evidence from the Horizon Europe “INSPIRE” project (GA No. 101136592). By bringing together contributions from the INSPIRE project, the session seeks to foster dialogue on how evidence generated through multilevel and mixed-method research can inform regional policy, rural development strategies, and the broader European agenda on territorial cohesion. The session also welcomes discussion beyond the project on how concepts such as wellbeing, resilience, social inclusion, and the “right to stay” can be operationalised in regional research and translated into actionable policy tools for more inclusive and sustainable rural futures.

SS20. Talent That Doesn’t Settle: Innovation and Urban Economy in Times of Flexible Mobility

Coordinators: Eva Coll Martínez, Sciences Po Toulouse, Université Toulouse Capitole, LEREPS; Anna Carmona Ferrer, Sciences Po Toulouse, Université Toulouse Capitole, LEREPS; and Jérôme Vicente Hernandez, Sciences Po Toulouse, Université Toulouse Capitole

Talent attraction policies have been central to urban and regional strategies for competitiveness, innovation, and economic development. Traditionally, these policies have assumed that the arrival of highly qualified professionals generates knowledge transfer, networking, entrepreneurship, tax returns, and the revitalization of local ecosystems. However, contemporary talent mobility patterns are changing. The expansion of remote work, temporary academic mobility, digital nomads, expatriates, freelancers, and other forms of intermittent presence challenge the idea that attracting talent necessarily equates to fostering territorial roots.

This Special Session aims to open a space for reflection on the territorial implications of flexible talent mobility. The objective is to discuss the extent to which the classic mechanisms linking skilled migration and innovation (proximity, continuous interaction, trust, team cohesion, knowledge spillovers, and cognitive diversification) are maintained, transformed, or weakened when talent is temporarily, fragmented, or partially detached from the local area.

The session also incorporates a critical dimension: the urban and social effects associated with attracting mobile talent. In highly sought-after cities, the arrival of professionals with high purchasing power, even if temporary or intermittent, can intensify gentrification processes, put pressure on the housing market, lead to the substitution of urban uses, promote functional tourism, and displace the resident population.

In this regard, the session invites theoretical, empirical, and methodological contributions that analyze the relationship between skilled mobility, regional innovation, and urban transformation. Contributions on talent-attracting cities, urban innovation ecosystems, remote work, digital nomads, academic mobility, transnational networks, taxation, the housing market, gentrification, the use of urban infrastructure, statistical measurement of mobile populations, and public policy design are especially welcome. The session also aims to explore which instruments can activate the innovative potential of these mobilities without exacerbating urban inequalities: events, conferences, networking platforms, rapid integration programs, temporary proximity spaces, housing policies, regulation of urban uses, and new forms of metropolitan governance.

Overall, the session seeks to contribute to the regional scientific debate on how to rethink the relationship between talent, territory, and innovation in a scenario where mobility no longer necessarily implies permanent settlement. The central question is not only whether temporary talent contributes to innovation, but also under what territorial conditions it does so, who reaps its benefits, and who bears its costs.

SS21. Regions, Education, Labor Markets & Inclusive Development (online)

Coordinators: Joselin Katerine Segovia Sarmiento – University of Cuenca, Ecuador, Marta González Escalonilla – University of Oviedo, Spain and Crhistian Joel González Cuatianquis – Gran Sasso Science Institute, Italy

Regional disparities in income, productivity, employment opportunities, and living conditions remain a defining feature of both advanced and developing economies. These inequalities are shaped by differences in economic structures, institutional capacity, labor market conditions, and access to quality education and skills formation. Labor market informality and unequal educational opportunities often limit social mobility, human capital accumulation, and regions’ ability to adapt to economic and technological change, making education and labor market dynamics central to understanding territorial inequalities.

These challenges are increasingly influenced by digitalization, artificial intelligence, and the transition toward more sustainable development models. While these transformations may create new opportunities for innovation, productivity, and inclusion, their benefits are unevenly distributed across territories, particularly in regions with weaker institutions, persistent skill gaps, or high levels of informality.

Latin America offers a particularly relevant context for examining these dynamics due to its persistent territorial disparities, institutional heterogeneity, and unequal development trajectories. This special session invites theoretical, empirical, and policy-oriented contributions examining how labor markets, education, place-based policies, and digital and sustainable transitions interact to shape regional inequality and inclusive development.

We welcome submissions that address, among others, the following topics:

• Informality, labor market segmentation, and regional disparities
• Education, skills formation, and social mobility across territories
• Design and impact of place-based development policies
• Territorial effects of digitalization, technological change, and access to technology
• Policies promoting sustainable, inclusive, and resilient regional development

Contributions focusing on less-explored territories, including Latin America, as well as comparative and cross-country analyses, are especially encouraged.

The session aims to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and contribute to both empirical and theoretical debates on regional inequality and development in a rapidly changing global context.

Participants in the session will be invited to submit their contributions for consideration in a forthcoming Special Issue of Revista Economía Política dedicated to regional inequality, territorial development, and broader socioeconomic dynamics.

SS22. Examining visitors’ mobility at tourist destinations: present and future challenges

Coordinators: Daniel Miravet (daniel.miravet@urv.cat), Xavier Delclòs-Alió (xavier.delclos@urv.cat) and Aaron Gutiérrez (aaron.gutierrez@urv.cat) – Grup de Recerca en Anàlisi Territorial i Estudis Turístics (GRATET), Departament de Geografia, Universitat Rovira i Virgili

Mobility is not merely a component of tourism but a constitutive dimension of it; tourism is, in essence, a form of mobility. At destinations, mobility structures how visitors move and consume. In turn, this mobility is shaped by the tourists’ sociodemographic profiles, their trip and holiday characteristics, and the destination type.

The benefits of visitor mobility are diverse: it extends the destination’s area of influence, helps distribute visitors and the income they generate beyond congested locations, and creates synergies with residents’ transport demand that can drive improvements in transport systems and infrastructure. Furthermore, it generates additional revenue that helps financially sustain these services.

Nevertheless, as with residents’ mobility, visitor mobility causes multifaceted impacts that can erode the local population’s quality of life and lead to a rejection of tourism. Examples of these negative externalities include carbon emissions and other pollutants that impair air quality, the congestion of sidewalks, public transport services, traffic infrastructure, and parking facilities, a higher risk of accidents, and a declining quality of service in terms of punctuality, cleanliness, or comfort. Frequently, the irregularity of visitor flows inherent to seasonality poses a major challenge for mobility and transport planning, which is often compounded by a lack of suitable data to assess the different dimensions of these flows.

Despite the relevance of both the benefits and negative impacts of visitor mobility at tourist destinations, it remains an incipient area of research. Likewise, it is not sufficiently reflected in tourism and mobility policy agendas or planning instruments.

This special session aims to include and discuss studies that provide new empirical evidence regarding different aspects of visitor mobility. Contributions dealing with the following topics are welcome, although alternative topics associated with tourism mobility will also be considered:

• Determinants of visitors mobility patterns at the destination
• Environmental footprint of visitor mobility
• Implications of visitor mobility for residents’ wellbeing and quality of life
• Effects of visitor mobility on local transport systems and infrastructures
• Planning and governance strategies for sustainable visitor mobility
• Integration of visitor mobility within urban, transport, and tourism planning
• Data sources, indicators, and methods to analyze visitor mobility
• Shared mobility practices among visitors
• Perceptions and attitudes of visitors and residents towards mobility
• Impact of weather and climate conditions on visitor mobility
• Stakeholders’ views and participation on issues of visitor mobility
• Barriers and enablers of transitions toward sustainable visitor mobility
• Communication, information provision, and digital tools for visitor mobility
• Synergies between residents’ and visitors’ mobility needs.

This special session is organized under the umbrella of the COASTPLEX project (PID2024-155189NB-I00), which is led by the GRATET research group, at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV).

SS23. Artificial Intelligence, Automation and Regional Labour Markets: Exposure, Effective Use and the Territorial Reconfiguration of Employment

Coordinators: Pablo Casas–Aljama – pablo.casas-aljama@ec.europa.eu, Enrique Fernández-Macías – enrique.fernandez-macias@ec.europa.eu, Carlos Torrecilla-Salinas – carlos.torrecilla-salinas@ec.europa.eu  – Joint Research Centre, European Commission, Seville

The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) —and particularly of generative AI since late 2022— marks a new phase of technological change whose diffusion is proceeding faster than that of the personal computer or the internet. Unlike previous waves, current AI extends the automation frontier into cognitive tasks hitherto reserved to human labour, while at the same time enhancing traditional automation technologies such as robotics. Its effects on labour markets, however, will not be homogeneous: the potential exposure of occupations, the effective use of these technologies by workers and firms, and the aggregate vulnerability to automation display considerable heterogeneity across occupations, sectors and, above all, territories, translating into regionally differentiated patterns of opportunities and challenges.

Recent economic literature has developed a range of metrics to capture these dimensions. On the one hand, occupational exposure indices make it possible to quantify which tasks are susceptible to being automated or augmented by AI. On the other hand, automation probabilities and related approaches remain a key reference for assessing the aggregate vulnerability of regional employment to technological change. More recently, an emerging literature —drawing on representative surveys and on real-use records— documents the effective use of AI, showing that adoption is concentrated in a fairly specific subset of tasks and workers, and that the gap between potential exposure and effective use is substantial.

This session proposes to bring this debate to the regional arena. The occupational and sectoral composition of each territory determines its aggregate exposure to AI and to automation, but the translation of that exposure into actual effects on employment, wages and occupational mobility depends on additional factors —human capital endowments, digital infrastructure, absorptive capacity, business structure, R&D intensity, labour market institutions— that are very unevenly distributed in space. Recent contributions illustrate how these structural heterogeneities give rise to regional clusters with divergent trajectories in Europe: high value-added service hubs and capital regions, advanced manufacturing cores, the southern periphery and the eastern periphery. The session is specifically interested in contributions placed at the frontier between labour economics and regional science, which draw on occupational microdata, usage surveys, administrative records or novel data sources to shed light on the opportunities and challenges that AI-related technological change poses for regional economies.

Theoretical and, especially, empirical contributions are welcomed along the following lines:

• Construction and regional application of indices of AI exposure and of vulnerability to automation, based on the occupational and sectoral composition of European regions.
• Measurement of the effective use of AI by workers and firms across different regional contexts, and analysis of the gap between potential exposure and actual adoption.
• Regional typologies combining exposure, use and vulnerability to identify differentiated profiles of opportunity and risk.
• Intra-regional heterogeneity in AI use: gaps by gender, age, educational attainment or firm type within equally exposed occupations.
• Differential effects of AI and automation on employment, hours, wages and occupational mobility, depending on the structure of regional labour markets.
• Implications for geographic labour mobility, interregional migration flows and the reconfiguration of urban and rural systems.
• Task-level analyses of the impact of AI on local and sub-regional labour markets.
• Alternative metrics incorporating complementarity and actual use (e.g. effective coverage) and their application to the Spanish or European case.
• Implications for the design of active labour market policies, reskilling and place-based policies in the face of a territorially uneven diffusion of technological change.

SS24. Human Capital and Labor Market Transformations in the Green Transition

Coordinadores: Simón Sánchez-Moral y Vicente Royuela

The ecological transition stands as a transformative force for regional and local development across Europe and Spain’s regions. The capacity to capitalize on these opportunities depends largely on human capital endowments. This special session aims to examine the transformations within labor markets induced by the green transition and its associated policies and strategies. We seek to analyze how regions can effectively harness this shift by focusing on several pillars, such as green talent and migration, intersectoral mobility and contribution to regional diversification, considering at the same time the impacts in terms of social vulnerability. We welcome contributions on these topics employing a diverse range of methodologies, including quantitative econometric analysis, qualitative case studies, and comparative regional assessments.

SS25. Regional Data-Driven Analysis: Machine Learning and Spatial Econometrics

Coordinators: Priscila Espinosa (University of Valencia) and Fernando A. López (Polytechnic University of Cartagena)

Data-driven decision-making has become a cross-cutting trend in virtually all areas of knowledge. This phenomenon is driven by the increasing availability of large volumes of data, the exploitation of which requires advanced analysis and modeling methodologies. In this context, machine learning algorithms will play a fundamental role in the scientific and technological development of the coming years.

A particularly relevant characteristic of many of these datasets is their geographic component. It is estimated that around 80% of the available data incorporates spatial or georeferenced information; that is, data associated with the precise location of observed individuals, activities, or objects. The convergence between the proliferation of georeferenced databases and the rapid advancement of machine learning techniques is giving rise to a new line of research with enormous scientific and applied potential.

Although data-driven learning techniques are already standard practice in many disciplines, their integration into areas such as Regional Science and Spatial Econometrics is still in its early stages. This situation presents an exceptional opportunity to promote new research in Regional Science, Geographic Economics, and Spatial Econometrics by integrating the predictive and analytical capabilities of Machine Learning with the methodological rigor of classical spatial econometrics.

SS26. Skills, Human Capital and Territorial Development in the Age of AI and Sustainability: Geopolitics and Energy Transitions

Coordinators: Daniel Rajmil, UOC, Lucía Morales, Technological University Dublin, Joan Torrent Sellens, UOC, Albert Miró, UOC.

In the current uncertain global context, regions face an unprecedented twin transition: the accelerated digitalisation driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the urgency of the green and sustainable transition amid energy geopolitics, combined with global security issues that are leading to countries’ increasing investment in defence and their militarisation, which are driving global affairs and conflict. This scenario is drastically reshaping labour markets, productive structures, and the need for innovative approaches to support human capital development. The economic development and resilience of territories will depend on their capacity to adapt to these technological and environmental needs, which are now at a critical moment: either adapt or widen existing cleavages and inequalities. The objective of this special session is to analyse, from a multidisciplinary/interdisciplinary and territorial perspective, how human capital, new skills, and public policies interact to foster equitable, innovative, and sustainable regional growth. On the other hand, conflict and energy geopolitics are driving efforts to build broader regional resilience to address growing inequalities and energy needs as countries seek to secure their strategic interests.

We invite researchers, academics, and policymakers to submit proposals for papers (theoretical, methodological, or empirical) addressing the following key themes:

a. AI, productivity, and territorial inequalities

b. Education, digital skills, and the green transition

c. Human capital, innovation, and sustainable regional development

d. Energy Geopolitics, conflict and regional resilience

e. Universities, lifelong learning, and territorial adaptation to technological change

f. Skill mismatches, the labour market, and new technologies

g. AI, education, and urban-rural divides

h. Human capital, smart territories, and sustainable regional growth

This workshop aims to develop a potential special issue, based on a multidisciplinary approach,  for a Q1- or Q2-ranked journal, or contributions for book chapters with a leading publishing house such as Routledge.

SS27.Global Value Chains in Transition: Technologies for the Decarbonization of Regions

Coordinators: Rosa Duarte (Universidad de Zaragoza); Cristina Sarasa (Universidad de Zaragoza); Jaime Nieto (Universidad de Valladolid); Sara Pavesio (Universidad de Valladolid).

Technological development and the widespread adoption of cleaner technologies are essential to achieving deep decarbonization and mitigating the effects of climate change. This special session aims to address different modeling approaches to assess the contribution of technologies to decarbonization and anticipate the economic, social, and environmental outcomes of this dynamic and complex process.

This session brings together research aimed at improving understanding of the socioeconomic and environmental implications of decarbonization efforts through the implementation of new technologies that contribute to decarbonization in the energy and industrial sectors.

To this end, we propose evaluating these efforts from different perspectives, incorporating technologies into multisectoral and multiregional input-output (MRIO) models, the study of technological trajectories in IAM models with system dynamics, as well as the long-term study of different trajectories of technology in the most polluting sectors of each country over time to simulate technological convergence in the territories.

This special session will present some of the advances on this topic within the framework of the PANTHEON Project / Pathways to(wards) carbon neutrality for climate, environment, health and socio-economic co-benefits. We welcome contributions that explore this topic from other perspectives.

SS28. From the Classroom to the Territory: Experiences of Teaching Innovation in Regional Science

Coordinators: Juan Carlos Rodríguez-Cohard y Fernando Rubiera

This special session aims to showcase innovative teaching experiences, methodologies, and educational practices that strengthen the connection between regional science education and real-world territorial challenges. Contributions may address curriculum design, active learning approaches, project-based learning, digital tools, stakeholder engagement, fieldwork experiences, interdisciplinary teaching, and collaborations between universities, public institutions, and local communities.

The motivation behind this session is the growing need to equip students with analytical, methodological, and practical skills to understand and address complex regional and territorial issues. By sharing successful experiences and lessons learned, the session seeks to foster dialogue among educators, researchers, and practitioners, promoting the exchange of ideas that enhance teaching quality and improve the societal impact of regional science education.

The session will be of interest to academics, teachers, researchers, and professionals involved in regional science, geography, urban and regional planning, economics, and related disciplines who are committed to innovative and impactful educational practices.