Value Chains and the Remaking of Urban and Regional Spaces : Case Studies from the USA, Latin America, and Spain

The book examines the challenges that local, regional, national, and global value chains at different levels pose to territorial development. Rethinking and developing urban and regional spaces require new understanding and research methods in economic geography. This is achieved by exploring how value chains influence and address territorial development. It is argued that territorial development is closely connected to local control of production networks, especially concerning social and environmental sustainability. This argument is supported by ten case studies from various countries (Argentina, Ecuador, the United States, and several from Spain or authored by Spanish scholars). The chapters offer readers a chance to explore the different elements that make up value chains. The book also provides an opportunity to understand the usefulness of value chains in relation to current economic geography dynamics. The case studies employ both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, covering various sectors and economic activities across different geographical scales (local, regional, national, and cross-national cases). The findings are particularly relevant for urban and regional development planning. This publication targets an audience familiar with new trends in economic geography and other social sciences.

Chapter “Following in the Footsteps of Inditex: Relocation and Adaptation of Urban Retail as a Competitive Strategy in its Value Chains” is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Chapter “Sustainable Food Networks and Mainstream Agrifood Value Chains: Testing a Comparative Conceptual Framework” is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Chapter “The Economic Impact of the Global Covid-19 Crisis on the Metropolitan Areas: Employment and Unemployment in Spanish Metropolitan Areas” is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Rosa Mecha López is teacher and researcher at the Department of Geography of the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain). She leads the research group "Economic Geography and Territorial Development" and specializes in Local Productive Systems, Industrial and Agroindustrial Districts and Rural Development. She has been visiting researcher the Universities of Toulouse-Le Miral (France), Utrecht (Holland) and Durham (England), as well as at the Higher Council for Scientific Research of Spain, within the Institute of Economics, Geography and Demography. She has also led the Scientific Culture, Innovation and Dissemination of Science Unit of the Complutense University of Madrid for 15 years and has been the coordinator of the Support Area for the Creation and Monitoring of university Spin-off companies. In recent years, her research has been focused on sustainable development policies and smart territories, especially Smart Villages and sustainable logistics. She works above all with qualitative research techniques and territorial diagnosis methodologies for the design of smart and sustainable development projects. She is currently part of the board of directors of the Economic Geography Group of the Spanish Association of Geography and of the Teaching Commission of the Degree in Geography and Territorial Planning of the Complutense University of Madrid.

Carlos López-Escolano is a teacher and researcher at the Department of Geography and Territorial Planning of the University of Zaragoza (Spain), where he is part of the Study Group for Spatial Planning (GEOT) and the Institute of Environmental Sciences (IUCA). He has been a visiting researcher at the Université de Toulouse-Jean Jaurès (France), Université de Pau et des Pays de l´Adour (France), and Universitatea de Vest din Timisoara (Romania). Over the last few years, he has worked on land use planning issues at different scales and their spatial dynamics, especially on transport infrastructures, urban mobility, and accessibility to facilities and services. He is currently the coordinator of the Master's in Territorial and Environmental Planning at the University of Zaragoza.

Ana Vera Martín is teacher and researcher at the Department of Geography of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB, Spain). She has been visiting researcher at the University of Portsmouth (UK) and University of Boston (United States). Her current research is related to the following topics: the development of commercial activity in inner urban areas based on pedestrian, open urban spaces and retail activity; local development and the strategic distributions of activities in the territory; and economic spaces related with the quality of life and the biodiversity. Methodologically, she works with both quantitative (spatial statistics and multivariate analysis) and qualitative methods.