Finance is a necessary resource for the development of regions, cities, and industries, but also represents a system of human-environment relationships central to their evolution. To explain and illustrate this argument, I will talk about regions, cities, and industries across times and places from a financial geography perspective. Illustrations will come from Atlas of Finance: Mapping the Global Story of Money – the first ever book-size collection of maps and visuals dedicated to the topic of finance and a unique exploration of the development of finance that combines data from every part of the world and covers five thousand years of history. With word and image, the atlas aims at changing the way people view both their money and their world. Whether we focus on financial centre development, financial innovation, financial instability or other topics, we cannot understand regions, cities, and industries without understanding finance.

If you need assistance, please email lesa.reynolds@regionalstudies.org