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ERSA 2008: Culture, Cohesion and Competitiveness: Regional Perspectives
48th Congress of the European Regional Science Association
27 – 31 August 2008
Liverpool, UK
The 2008 ERSA Congress was jointly hosted by the Department of Civic Design at the University of Liverpool and the British and Irish Section of the Regional Science Association International. The latter was established in 1968 and has hosted previous ERSA Congresses (London in 1970 and 1979), Cambridge (1989) and Dublin (1999).
The Congress in Liverpool wished to focus on numerous regeneration initiatives. Due to them the City has undergone dramatic changes.
Significant is that the Department of Civic Design, the world's first planning school, would celebrate its centenary in the following year, that is in 2009 and thus the Congress marked an important milestone.
Download ERSA 2008 Final Congress Programme (PDF)
Congress Sponsors (PDF)
At this conference, a presentation was made by Stavanger, the city which was European Capital of Culture during that same year, to demonstrate as well the co-operation between these two European Capitals of Culture. Title of the presentation was:
Beliefs in Culture as an Instrument for Regional Development: the case of Stavanger, European Capital of Culture 2008 (no longer available on the web)
Abstract:
"The Norwegian production of petroleum has peaked and in a not too distant future, the Norwegian ‘oil capital’ Stavanger has to meet the challenge of a declining petroleum industry. The bid for the status as European Capital of Culture in 2008 was one of the initiatives taken by local authorities in order to make the Stavanger region more attractive for new businesses and highly skilled employees. The bid reflected a belief in culture is as an important instrument for regional development. This article throws light on the question of how widespread the belief in culture was among the citizens as well as leading politicians, civil servants and business managers in the Stavanger region prior to the year as European Capital of Culture. It was presented at ERSA 2008: Culture, Cohesion and Competitiveness: Regional Perspectives 48th Congress of the European Regional Science Association i Liverpool, 27. – 31. august 2008"
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