From territorial recognition to policy responsiveness: Mapping labour-market policies in Europe’s twin transition

Simon Norheim Colclough, Maria Tsouri and Lars Coenen

No 2625, Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) from Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography

Abstract: Europe’s green and digital transitions generate geographically uneven adjustment challenges. While research on regional vulnerabilities and preparedness has grown in recent years, the alignment between policy mixes and territorial challenges has received less attention. This paper develops a Territorial Policy Responsiveness Index (TPRI) that measures the design of transition-related labour-market policy mixes along four dimensions: territorial sensitivity, policy comprehensiveness, governance and legitimacy, and implementation capacity. We code 1,510 regional policies adopted or implemented between 2010 and 2025 across 31 European countries and aggregate policy scores to NUTS2 region-period policy mixes using fractional spatial weights. We compare policies from two separate periods, 2010-2018 and 2019-2025, and reorganise the four dimensions into a two-axis typology of territorial recognition and substantive support. Our results show that territorial sensitivity is consistently the strongest dimension, followed by policy comprehensiveness, whereas governance and legitimacy and implementation capacity are weaker. The composite TPRI changes only modestly because its components move in different directions. Across 374 observed region-periods, 39.3% occupy one of two misaligned configurations, with symbolic territorial recognition substantially more common than generic capacity building. The geography does not reproduce a simple North-South or core-periphery divide. The findings show that recognising territorial difference is not equivalent to territorial responsiveness: policy becomes more territorially sensitive without consistently developing the comprehensive labour-market, governance and implementation arrangements required to equip places for adjustment.

Keywords: twin transition; territorial policy responsiveness; place-based policy; labour markets; policy mixes; NUTS2 regions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-10, Revised 2026-10
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