Session

Development funds of European Union (EU) play a significant role in economic and territorial development. Even non-EU member countries deal with EU sources in relation to transnational, cross-border and pre-accession EU funds. EU cohesion policy and rural development policy are major donors of those development activities. These EU policies will guide the current EU programming period (from 2014 to 2020) in a reformed manner. The policy reforms can also be detected by substantial changes in their geographical dimensions. At the same time national economic policies are also seeking new approaches to enhance growth and competitiveness. The traditional regional way of thinking of EU is becoming more varied. In relation to the so called place-based approach new regional categories and methodologies are to be favoured as well. Territorial Agenda of EU (TA2020) reflects these new approaches as well. This session is looking for answers for the following questions. What geographical/territorial content/dimension is in the current European development and economic policies and activities? What are the new – possibly extended – roles of geography in this renewed policy context? What role geographers can play in related professional communities when forming policies, programmes, and projects? How the roles of the geographic fields and professionals have changed or shall be changed in the future?