Geographical and Territorial Vision Facing the Crisis

Abstract

Taking inspiration from the ideas of Kitson et al. (Camb J Econ Reg Soc 4:289–302, 2011) and other authors Pettifor (The coming first world debt crisis. Palgrave, London, 2006) and Rodriguez-Pose (Econ Geogr 86:361–370, 2010), the paper analyzes and discusses the so defined Geographies of Austerity in front of the current crisis. The resulting critical considerations suggest to adopt rigorous measures rather than austerity measures, in order to not invalidate the development efforts implemented by states and regions. Discussions are also directed to that part of the European and Italian economic and political Geography that used traditional tools to read economic trends in a strongly territorialized key. The lack of participation of the economic Geography to European public policies affected especially the 2007–2013 programming that mainly focused on boosting competitiveness in the global market. These considerations are discussed to investigate the causes which hindered to take significant preventive measures, as in the case of Italy. Different and “sustainable” solutions can come from several spatial approaches and baseline scenarios based on uncertain economic forecasts that economic and political geography has produced in Europe.