The issue of ‘left-behind places’ has emerged as a topic of great interest to researchers and policy-makers in recent years, focusing on economically declining and lagging areas beyond the major city-regions. While different terms are used in different countries, there is a shared concern with the fate of such lagging areas. This concern has been heightened by the growth of a ‘geography of discontent’, with ‘left behind’ areas often identified as hotbeds of dissatisfaction and populist support.

This online seminar is based on a cross-national research project that has sought to get beyond the overarching’ label of ‘left behind places’ to investigate actual processes of changes in these areas through in-depth research in France, Germany and the United Kingdom (UK). In the first part of the seminar, the research team will present key emerging findings from this cross-national project, based upon three main themes: residential mobility and immobility; the changing role of place; and, governance and policy. In the second part of the seminar, leading researchers and policy-makers will offer reflections on, and suggestions for, new policy approaches to address the ‘left behind’ condition.