City and Region in an Age of Globalisation and Digitization

The globalisation of the economy and the availability of Internet technology have had a profound impact on thinking about the future of cities and regions. On the one hand there is talk about the “end of geography,” of the placeless “digital city,” on the other of a “renaissance of regional economies” and a “new logic of agglomeration.” The relatively unfavourable view of the future of the city taken by a considerable number of authors contrasts with a mostly favourable assessment of the prospects for regions. Critical analysis of the discussion shows that the differing evaluation of cities and regions is primarily attributable to a selective, normatively distorted perspective. It seems urgently necessary to overcome the division between urban and regional studies and to give the city region the weight in research and politics that it deserves for the role it is playing in the current period of globalisation and digitization. City and Region – A Multifaceted Relationship “If I am not asked what time is, I know; if I am asked, I do not.” This insight attributed to St. Augustus can be transferred to many concepts embedded in everyday language. At first glance, everything seems quite clear. The longer one thinks about such concepts, the more problems and questions arise. This is also the case with city and region. For they do not simply denote an unambiguous, empirical reality but are – at least in scholarly and political discourses – to be seen as constructs overlying specific cognitive interests, action contexts, and normative projections. This problem becomes particularly significant when we place the concepts city and regions in relation with one another. The significance of the relationship between city and region has undergone farreaching changes in public and scholarly debate over the past three decades. During the period of economic expansion after the Second World War, the city was considered the unrivalled locus of economic and societal dynamics. Until the mid-70s, urban development problems seemed primarily to stem from “uncontrolled” economic