Regions and cities in the world exhibit major differences in economic performance and face continuous challenges due to increasing economic and social interdependence. Complex and dynamic relationships between people, firms, and institutions bounded in space have both positive implications, such as continuous innovation, increasing creativity, and economic growth, and negative consequences, including social and economic inequalities, tensions between different cultures and values, and threats to the environment and people health.

In this course, we will consider the positive and negative aspects involved in regional economic growth, by focusing on a selection of topics, including: 1) employee mobility and entrepreneurship; 2) innovation, networks and localised knowledge spillovers; 3) migration and innovation; 4) regional industrial diversification, and 5) sustainability challenges and human rights.