The Right to Not Catch Up—Transitioning European Territorial Cohesion towards Spatial Justice for Sustainability

Barbara Demeterova, Tatjana Fischer and Jürgen Schmude
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Barbara Demeterova: Department of Geography, Chair for Economic Geography and Tourism Research, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, 80333 Munich, Germany
Tatjana Fischer: Institute of Spatial Planning, Environmental Planning and Land Rearrangement (IRUB), Department of Landscape, Spatial and Infrastructure Sciences, BOKU—University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, 1190 Vienna, Austria
Jürgen Schmude: Department of Geography, Chair for Economic Geography and Tourism Research, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, 80333 Munich, Germany

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 11, 1-26

Abstract: Recent EU environmental and spatial policies notably strive towards the development paradigm of green growth and economic competitiveness. However, operationalizing spatial policies through growth-driven GDP logics promotes an unequal race towards narrowly defined developmental ‘success’, while perpetuating social, economic and environmental inequalities. Meanwhile, the EU’s territorial cohesion approach has remained a conceptual ‘black box’, its apparent inadequacy for notably mitigating territorial disparities leading to renewed questions about territorial policy’s relevance, delivery and evaluation. In this paper, we add to calls for redesigning territorial cohesion by proposing a turn towards spatial justice for territorial sustainability. Pointing out the need to refocus on regional capabilities and alternative development trajectories, we argue that the ‘right to not catch up’ enables a more locally meaningful and globally sustainable development. Drawing from regional statistics, policy analyses and an empirical case study of three European Territorial Cooperation programs in the heterogeneous Austrian-Czech-Slovak-Hungarian border region, we illustrate how current EU spatial policy approaches evolve in regional practice and why current policy aims fall short for sustainable transformations. Through interrogating development discourses and their alternatives, we contribute to emerging new perspectives on sustainable territorial development at the European as well as at regional levels.

Keywords: territorial sustainability; spatial justice; territorial cohesion; regional capabilities; European border regions; cross-border cooperation; regional disparities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:11:p:4797-:d:370345

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