Economic geographers have long been engaged with questions, theories, and critiques about the drivers and outcomes of uneven development. Diverse epistemic communities (e.g., GPN, geographical political economy, evolutionary economic geography) have conceptualized, examined, and compared how regional and place-based development pathways are shaped by multiscalar forces, endogenous factors, relationalities, historical features, and embedded structures, agencies, and practices. Moreover, critical and radical perspectives have inspired and challenged established ontologies and epistemologies regarding what economic development is, how it can best be achieved, and why it is inherently uneven, unequal, and unjust. Most notably, there has been an emerging consensus that Northern and Western dominated narratives and concepts have by-and-large been unable to account for or resolve the challenges and solutions facing post-colonial, Southern contexts striving to catch-up or converge with the West. Beyond debunking and deconstructing such perspectives, new approaches and concepts (e.g., diverse economies, practice theory, dis/articulations, assemblages) have emerged to provide fresh understandings of the complex geographies that shape development processes, alternatives, and uneven outcomes at the global, national, regional, and grassroots scale.
The theme leaders invite submissions that address, but are not limited to, the following topics: