GaWC
A new paper discussing the use of proxy datasets for identifying city boundaries: Van Migerode, C., Poorthuis, A. and Derudder, B. (2026) ‘Proxy datasets to identify city boundaries’, Nature Cities. City boundaries can be delineated using various proxy datasets, such as population, built-up area and night-time lights. Each proxy reflects different assumptions about what constitutes […]
A new book Media Industries and Cities, edited by Andrew Spicer and Paul McDonald, has been published by Routledge, including a chapter on ‘Transnational media corporations in global media cities’ by Allan Watson, Michael Hoyler and Ben Derudder. This collection investigates how cities have become centres for media industries, examining how local operations are shaped […]
A new paper proposing a methodology for identifying potential cross-border metropolitan regions (CBMRs): Van Migerode, C. and Derudder, B. (2026) ‘Identifying potential cross-border metropolitan regions’, Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie. This contribution showcases visual storytelling as a tool for communicating analytical approaches. It outlines a methodology for identifying potential Cross-Border Metropolitan Regions (CBMRs). Potential […]
Economic Geography: The Basics examines how geographical concepts – place, space, territory, networks, and scale – enable the study of economic phenomena from a spatial perspective. Readers will develop an understanding of the diverse theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches that define ‘Economic Geography’. The six chapters cover the internal complexities and contradictions of the field, its […]
Using a unique data-rich study of Newcastle’s becoming of a metropolitan city-region in the nineteenth century, this book explores a new understanding of how successful cities attain a metropolitan status through disruptions of incessant economic advances being ameliorated by myriad social organisations to create a new vibrant urban environment. The book defines the specific process […]
A new paper investigating the standardisation process behind urban definitions: Van Migerode, C., Poorthuis, A. and Derudder, B. (2026) ‘From fragmentation to framework: negotiating urban definitions’, Urban Studies. This article starts from the premise that purposefully working toward shared urban definitions can foster constructive dialogue across geographical and disciplinary boundaries. Yet, the process of standardisation […]
A new paper that examines how cities function as providers or receivers of innovative knowledge: Yang, Y., Demuynck, W. and Derudder, B. (2026) ‘Asymmetries in Chinese cities’ knowledge collaborations: dynamics of providing and receiving cooperation within and beyond urban regions’, International Regional Science Review. Knowledge cooperation underpins innovation systems, yet it is rarely balanced: some […]
Two new papers that engage with the pedagogy of teaching financial and regional geographies. The first, by Michiel van Meeteren, takes the example of two modules developed as part of the MSc International and Financial Political Relations at Loughborough University (and including key GaWC contributors in their various iterations), to argue for a broader inclusion […]
Two new papers analysing different aspects of technological diversification and polycentricity in Chinese urban regions: Lu, J., Yang, Y., Cao, Z. and Derudder, B. (2026) ‘Polycentricity and technological diversification: divergent pathways across Chinese urban regions’, Regional Studies, 60 (1). This paper examines how polycentricity shapes technological diversification in Chinese urban regions. Beyond morphological and functional […]
Join the Boston University Initiative on Cities and the City Planning & Urban Affairs (CPUA) at BU Metropolitan College for a discussion with BU Urbanist and Lecturer at the Boston University City Planning & Urban Affairs Program, Jim O’Connell, on his new book, Boston and the Making of a Global City. Drawing on scholarship, media accounts, interviews, and […]