Abstract Wildlife corridors are seen as essential environmental infrastructure guaranteeing species connectivity and biological diversity in contemporary conservation landscapes. Harking back to recent social science literature on infrastructure in general and environmental infrastructure in particular this contribution will analyze one contested wildlife corridor as part of a large conservationist project, the giant Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA), founded in 2011, and with 520,000 km2 the world’s largest conservation area. Using elephant corridors as an example, we will examine how they come into being and how they are governed. Only at first sight wildlife corridors appear as something entirely natural, constituted by the daily or seasonal movements of large herbivores. Indeed, elephants for example, produce paths through the savannah that are well visible in the landscape. But to make them wildlife corridors in conservation projects human action is needed: we will analyse wildlife corridors as hybrids of wildlife produced paths, administrative action and modern technologies of wildlife monitoring. As we will show in some detail focusing on one important Namibian wildlife corridor, the so-called Sobbe corridor, the human-elephant conflict is a real challenge leading to local resistance to corridors. Surprisingly, though, conflict is more frequent along the linear settlements close to roads, than on wildlife corridors, instances of human-elephant conflict is a prominent topic linked to corridors. The most significant challenge to corridors though comes from the rapid expansion of agricultural fields as well as from local conflicts over land ownership.

Abstract The sustainable transformation of socio-technical infrastructure systems such as energy or mobility has become a dominant theme in regional development policy. Regional sustainability transitions enable the integration of local development goals associated with structural change with ubiquitous ‘global challenges’ such as combating climate change. Energy transition, for example, is particularly known for conveniently promoting both sustainable development and (green) growth at the same time. This entanglement blurs economic and social-ecological objectives, begging the question, how transformative alleged regional sustainability transitions really are in practice. In this paper, we conceptualize the ‘transition development nexus’ as a differentiated research perspective to disentangle the often taken-for-granted combination of regional transition agendas and regional growth agendas. We glimpse at exemplary energy transition efforts in rural regions of Austria and Germany, where this combination noticeably appears, and infer a set of questions that we consider key for a differentiated research agenda on transformative regional development.

Abstract This study examines the impact of local economic opportunity structures on mobility intentions and mobility behaviour subsequent to involuntary job loss in Germany. Previous research has demonstrated that job loss leads to an increased propensity for regional mobility; however, the role of the regional economy as a push factor and its influence on the decision to relocate remains unclear. The focus of the study at hand is on the opportunities provided by locational factors and an examination of the broader context in which regional mobility after job loss occurs. Logistic regression models are set up using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel study, which is complemented by a unique combination of spatial structure indicators. The results demonstrate that job loss has no effect on the mobility intentions of displaced workers. However, it increases the propensity to relocate within Germany. Furthermore, a favourable economic situation in the home region makes mobility intentions of displaced workers less likely. This is indicated by a negative effect of the local GDP and a positive effect of the occupation-specific local unemployment rate. A mediation analysis does not confirm a hypothesised omitted variable bias of economic worries in the effect of regional economic characteristics on the mobility intentions of displaced workers.

Abstract While promoting the well-being of people is the ultimate goal of all EU social and economic policies, research in this area has been mainly limited to income-based measures of well-being, such as GDP per capita, especially at the regional level. Therefore, this study aims to go beyond income-based measures and examine the spatial distribution and drivers of objective well-being in European regions. To achieve this, a unique panel dataset is created by integrating regional data on objective well-being (based on the EU-Social Progress Index), economic growth, industrial clusters and knowledge structure, covering 165 NUTS-2 regions from 11 EU countries (between 2011 and 2018). Based on dynamic panel regressions using a system generalized method of moments (GMM) approach, it is shown that the economic growth promotes the objective well-being in regions. Evidence is also found that the industrial structure within regions is an additional driver. Regions with a diverse industrial cluster portfolio are more likely to have high objective well-being. However, this influence is negatively moderated by the strength of the industrial clusters, which possibly refers to size-related negative externalities. Besides the economic effects, industrial cluster structures can therefore also influence the objective well-being in regions. To promote regional well-being, regional policies should support a diverse industrial cluster portfolio rather than a regional cluster structure that is overly specialized in relatively few large industries.