ESPON Scientific Conference 2018: call for abstracts

Building the next generation of research on territorial development

espon

* Deadline for abstracts to be submitted to 31 August 2018 *

ESPON uses research to inspire policy making in the field of territorial development and cohesion. And this ESPON scientific conference is looking for fresh approaches and methods that inspire us.

In this context, the conference aims on the one hand to share and discuss our and your experiences, upcoming challenges in territorial development and cohesion, and how to apply new scientific approaches and tools in our territorial research.

On the other hand, the aim is to interest a wider international scientific community for our research on territorial development and cohesion, and to enlarge our alliances and exchanges with scientific partners.

We invite you to fascinate us by new ideas about concepts, methods, indicators, data-sources which we did not have in mind; surprise us with questions we have not thought before; and convince us with strong arguments to try new ways.

Three topics

Three topics have been identified as common challenges for improving and further developing the support to policy makers with addressing the territorial dimension in policy development: a) territorial interrelations; b) integrated territorial development; c) new data sources.

A call for abstracts is looking for papers that describe, explain and communicate new concepts, methods, indicators, typologies, tools, maps and models that have been developed and used in relation to one of these three topics. In addition, we are also looking for contributions that critically reflect upon the traditional way of doing territorial research in relation to the three topics: are we asking the right questions?

a) Territorial interrelations

Key for this topic are methodologies that are able to capture territorial interrelations, functional areas and territorial development beyond static administrative units. An increasing number of cities and regions are working on the spatial development of cross-border and functional urban areas. Therefore, it is important to further strengthen the analytical, policy-making, monitoring and evaluation capacities for these areas. For this topic we are looking for papers that discuss an analytical tool or methodology that is able to capture territorial interrelations, functional areas and territorial development beyond static administrative units. Background information for this session can for example be found in the ESPON projects ACTAREA and CPS,

b) Integrated territorial development

Key for this topic are methodologies that are able to monitor and measure integrated territorial development. Under the Cohesion Policy for 2014-2020 integrated territorial development has gained a new momentum. The European Commission has introduced new tools that can be used to implement territorial strategies in an integrated manner by combining several funds and addressing the development of a territory across sectors. For this topic we are looking for papers that discuss a methodology able to measure and monitor the impact of integrated investments on the development of the territory across sectors. Background information for this session can be found in the ESPON Policy Brief on Indicators for integrated territorial and urban development.

c) New data sources

Key for this topic are methodologies that are using new data sources and tools for territorial analysis. The use of traditional data such as official administrative statistics takes in general long to be published and used and does not cover all topics of interest for territorial cohesion. Moreover, increasingly new data sources are being discovered and used for observing territorial development trends, such as data and information from analysing internet activities or social media. For this topic we are looking for papers that discuss new data sources and tools that have been developed and used for territorial analysis. Background information for this session can for example be found in a feasibility study on analytical tools based on big data; CityBench and TERCO.

Call for abstracts

Researchers and consultants are invited to submit an abstract. Those responsible for a selected abstract will be invited to submit their paper and participate in the conference.

This paper (max. 8 pages) should describe one specific concept, methodology, model, set of indicators, typologies, tool or set of maps and be related to one of the three topics mentioned above. The paper should be presented at the scientific conference and will be included in an ESPON 2020 Scientific Report. More detailed guidelines for the papers will be sent together with the notification of acceptance.

The submission of your abstract should include a title, three-five keywords, be linked to one of the three topics above and cover max. 300 words. The abstract should describe i) the specific methodology itself, ii) how it contributes to improving the understanding of European territorial development and cohesion, and iii) how it supports policy making. Finally, contact details of the author and a maximum of 3 co-authors should be indicated. No one may submit more than one abstract.

The abstract can be submitted here.

After closure of the call, a maximum of 18 abstracts will be selected, distributed over the three topics. The evaluation of the abstracts will be based on the following criteria (in total 100 points):

1) Level of understanding the purpose of the paper with regards to its relevance for the indicated topic and its focused approach (max. 40 points)

2) Quality of the abstract with regards to the elements i) to iii) mentioned above (max. 60 points)

Presenters of selected papers can request a fee or the reimbursement of their travel expenses, on the basis of specific rules applied by the ESPON EGTC to be communicated at a later stage to the selected candidates.

No conference fee is requested and coffee/tea and lunch breaks during the conference are offered by the Programme.

Structure

The conference will start with key-note speeches presenting a general overview on new trends in the field of territorial development and inspiring the audience for an open debate. This will be followed by two times three parallel sessions on the three topics mentioned above. For each of the topics six papers are sought that will be presented during the conference and be included in a scientific report afterwards. A panel debate with European professional and academic organizations will close the conference.