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This paper considers the work of the European Cluster Observatory (ECO) in light of current debates around the notion of clusters. Examining the definitions employed by the ECO, questions are posed about how effective policy can be when using highly restrictive means of analysis. Further, the work contends that, far from this being purely an analytical problem, there also exists a fundamental semantic issue regarding the term ‘economic cluster’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article presents predictable view of the editor of the April 2004 issue of the journal "European Urban and Regional Studies," regarding the geographies of the new Europe in the new millennium. The editor describes that towards the end of the 21st century social scientists increasingly colonized one of geographers' defining territories and became more interested in issues of space and spatiality in the constitution of economies and societies. Several important points related to conceptualization in terms of relations, between circuits, flows and spaces, are discussed, both in general and more specifically in providing a conceptual framework through which to comprehend the evolving geographies of the New Europe.

The 1990s have seen a strong surge in the number of cross-border regions all over Western and Eastern Europe. The article analyses the emergence of these local cross-border institutions in public governance by addressing their context, dimensions and causal underpinnings. First, it offers a brief background on the history of cross-border regions in Europe and related EU policies to support them. Second, it provides a conceptual definition of crossborder regions and their various forms and positions within the wider context of other transnational regional networks. Third, it analyses the empirical dimensions of European cross-border regions, including their frequency, geographic distribution and development over time. It concludes by linking cross-border regions and their various forms to institutional conditions in specific countries as well as the effects of European regional policy. It is argued that small-scale cross-border regions have flourished in particular because of their increasingly relevant role as implementation units for European regional policy in a context of multi-level governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on R. Shields and P. Le Gales' articles on the relationship between economics and culture in European geographical or urban and regional research. Role of institutions and political struggles; Importance of shared representations.