Beyond 'Left Behind Places': Understanding Demographic and Socioeconomic Change in Peripheral Regions

核心和外围区域之间和内部的社会和空间不平等再次成为发达经济体的一个重大经济和政治问题。这种分歧引发了经济和社会不满，并在外围地区，特别是某些老工业区，对民粹主义和民族主义政党提供了越来越多的政治支持。这场动荡推动了英国退欧公投和唐纳德·特朗普在美国的当选，以及法国的国民集会党(National Rally)和黄色马甲党(Gilets Jaunes)以及德国的德国新选择党(Alternative für Deutschland)的支持率。对此，研究人员、评论员和政界人士纷纷表达了对全球化、技术和经济变革所“留下”的地方的担忧。虽然“留守”类别在提高社会和空间不平等的政治能见度方面受到欢迎，但它可能会掩盖和过度简化人们和地方的不同经历和发展道路。该项目的目的是对外围地区的人口和社会经济变化有一个新的理解，研究目前被归类为“留守”的地方和人的情况和前景。它将促进人们对周边化的理解，认为这是一个持续的过程，其驱动因素是人口的地理集中度和大城市中心的繁荣，以及其他地区的衰落或停滞。通过比较法国、德国和英国在西欧的经验，这项研究有四个目的：1)了解边缘地区的独特情况和发展道路，克服将不同类型的地方归入“留守”这一宽泛范畴的倾向；2)评估周边地区的人口动态与社会经济、健康和政治结果之间的关系，包括从周边地区迁出和留在周边地区的人，以纠正目前对区域间移徙的研究偏向；3)审查周边地区居民的生计活动和做法，弥补对“普通人”如何处理边缘问题的忽视；4)确定结合传统和替代视角的新政策应对措施，超越对不断发展的大城市的依赖，并将其繁荣扩展到周边地区。研究小组将利用一系列研究方法和跨国研究设计，通过承担以下任务来解决这些目标：i)确定和分类西欧各地的周边地区，以确定其不同的发展道路以及集中化和边缘化的关键维度和过程；ii)使用二级量化数据调查从法国、德国和英国的周边地区迁出并留在这些地区的人的不同经历和结果；3)通过基于半结构化访谈、非参与者观察、民生基础设施测绘和重点小组的6个邻里案例研究(每个国家2个)，审查周边地区的日常生活战略和做法；4)通过分析次级文件和主要行动者访谈，评估应对周边地区各种情况的当前和今后的政策办法。5)综合调查结果，将其与总体项目目的和目标联系起来，并撰写项目的研究成果(8篇国际期刊文章、1篇专著和政策报告)。

Social and spatial inequalities between and within core and peripheral regions have re-emerged as a major economic and political issue in developed economies. Such divisions have generated economic and social discontent and growing levels of political support for populist and nationalist parties in peripheral regions, particularly certain old industrial areas. This turmoil fuelled the Brexit vote in the UK and the election of Donald Trump in the US as well as support for the Rassemblement National (National Rally) and Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vests) in France and the Alternative für Deutschland in Germany. In response, researchers, commentators and politicians have voiced concerns about the places 'left behind' by globalisation, technological and economic change. While welcome in increasing the political visibility of social and spatial inequalities, the 'left behind' category risks hiding and over-simplifying the different experiences and development paths of people and places.The aim of the project is to develop a new understanding of demographic and socio-economic change in peripheral regions, examining the circumstances and prospects of places and people currently categorised together as 'left behind'. It will advance understandings of peripheralisation as an on-going process driven by the geographical concentration of people and prosperity in large urban centres alongside the decline or stagnation of other regions. The research is concerned with inner peripheries defined by their disconnection from external territories and networks, particularly urban regions and intermediate areas close to cities experiencing demographic and socio-economic stagnation or decline.Taking an approach that compares the experiences of France, Germany and the UK in their western European context, the research has four objectives: i) To understand the distinctive circumstances and development pathways of peripheral regions, overcoming the tendency to subsume different kinds of places beneath the broad category of 'left behind'; ii) To assess the relationships between the population dynamics of peripheral regions and socio-economic, health and political outcomes, covering both people moving from, and staying within, peripheral regions to redress the existing research bias towards migration between regions; iii) To examine the livelihood activities and practices of residents in peripheral regions, remedying the neglect of how 'ordinary' people deal with peripherality;iv) To identify new policy responses that combine conventional and alternative perspectives, moving beyond the reliance upon growing larger cities and spreading their prosperity to surrounding regions.Using a range of research methods and a cross-national research design, the research team will address these objectives by undertaking the following tasks: i) Identifying and categorising peripheral regions across western Europe to identify their different pathways of development and the key dimensions and processes of concentration and peripheralisation, drawing upon international and national secondary quantitative data;ii) Investigating the different experiences and outcomes for people moving from, and staying in, peripheral regions in France, Germany and the UK using secondary quantitative data;iii) Examining people's everyday livelihood strategies and practices in peripheral regions through six neighbourhood case studies (two per country) based on semi-structured interviews, non-participant observation, livelihood infrastructures mapping, and focus groups;iv) Assessing current and informing future policy approaches to address the varied situations of peripheral regions through analysing secondary documentation and key actor interviews.v) Synthesising findings, relating them to the overall project aim and objectives, and writing up the project's research outputs (8 international journal articles, 1 monograph and policy report).