Regional Development and Regional Policy

Research and teaching of regional politics, policy and development at the University of Oulu focus on regional transformation and resilience. The processes of regional transformation touch upon multiple societal and cultural processes that are closely related to transformations in political economy, the state, governmental rationalities and political decision-making. Thus, the regional transformation can be studied from a variety of angles of human and political geography and spatial planning and by utilizing diverse methods and research materials. From the transformation perspective, regional development and policy is inescapably an interdisciplinary field, not a “property” of any institutionalized discipline.

Research group information

Unit and faculty

Geography

Faculty of Science

Researchers

Postdoctoral researchers

University lecturers

Doctoral researchers

Research group description

The staff of the regional politics/policy and development currently focuses on the following research themes:

Transformation of regional policies and associated governmental rationalities in Finland, the European Union and in the Nordic and Arctic contexts
Transformation of regional political ideas and concepts
Cross-border regions and regional and community resilience
Spatial dynamics of various economic imaginaries, e.g. the knowledge-based economy, the bioeconomy, and diverse economies.
Inter-regional and international mobilities and security-resilience nexus in regional development and regional policy
Implications of state transformation to spatial planning and to the planning institutions

All political decision making has spatial or regional dimension. This is the main reason why historically the study of regional politics, policy and development has had intimate connections with political power. We believe that the interaction between policy circles and the academic scholars of the regional politics, policy and development must be based on thorough theoretical, conceptual and empirical work. The primary goal of the study of regional politics, policy and development at the University of Oulu is therefore to produce both theoretical and empirical knowledge on regional transformation and resilience and publish these insights in international academic forums, especially in conferences and in high quality journals. This kind of work has policy relevance that can be utilized by decision makers and officials in their efforts to manage and govern regions and places in a complex world.