The main objective of this article is to analyse the concept of the outermost regions, which, on the one hand, correspond to areas of the EU located at great distances from Europe and, on the other, promote a positive discrimination between regions by granting specific economic benefits. A literature review and analysis of socio-economic data are the main methods used to achieve the proposed objectives. The research focused on the legal evolution of the ORs in the EU Treaties, the development support programmes under European cohesion policy, and the main indicators that make it possible to characterise the current economic and social situation of these remote areas. From this type of analysis, it was possible to see that the majority of the ORs are still far from the average values of the EU-27, both economically and in terms of the standard of living of their inhabitants, despite the substantial progress that has been made over the last 30 years, as a result of an increasingly consolidated outermost status in European politics.

Short food supply chains (SFSCs) and local markets, where farmers sell directly to consumers, are expanding across the EU, offering alternatives to conventional food chains that limit small farmers’ bargaining power and consumer traceability. In the EU, 15% of farms sell over half of their production directly. For Kosovo’s agricultural sector, SFSCs present new opportunities. This study examines SFSCs in Kosovo using data from 2,500 respondents. The findings show that 54% rely on oral contracts, 20% on written agreements, and distributors use multiple sourcing channels. SFSCs can enhance sustainability, trust, equality and growth in agriculture, business, and rural policy.

This study aims to investigate the nature and drivers of foreign investment in 16 regions of Poland. Using a spatial analysis approach, the study examines the spatial characteristics of the factors that influence foreign investment, namely labour and research and development (R&D) support. The results of the first analysis indicate strong spatial characteristics and interregional correlations in the observed variables, although they are not characterised by spatial dependence. The regression analysis results show that R&D expenditure significantly supports the enhancement of foreign investment alongside the labour factor, which has a more substantial impact.

The study of regional fiscal convergence is a recent extension of the neoclassical growth theory. Various studies have shown the existence of fiscal convergence across countries or states in federally governed countries. This paper tests the growth theory on income and fiscal variables differently in a centrally ruled country. Therefore, we estimate spatial and non-spatial panel models from 2004 to 2022 for Türkiye. A general-to-specific methodology is applied for selecting an appropriate model to determine spatial interactions of the variables by using the panel data at the level of 81 Turkish provinces. The Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimation results from the non-spatial model partially validate the growth theory as the study does not find evidence of absolute convergence for government expenditures. The results, however, confirm the conditional convergence for all variables. The Maximum Likelihood (ML) method is applied for the estimation of the dynamic and static spatial panel models to explain their spatial interactions. The ML findings are consistent with the OLS results. Moreover, unlike direct and total effects, it is not possible to define indirect effects explaining spatial spillover effects in the short and long terms.

The article presents the development of food retail in Poland in comparison with global trends, characterised by the tendency to replace small traditional food stores with large-format stores, such as supermarkets and hypermarkets. This tendency has led to the emergence of retail and food deserts in numerous countries. This is a major problem from the perspective of both practitioners and researchers. In Poland, like in many other countries in the world, similar processes in retail development occur, therefore, researchers should pay attention to the emergence of retail deserts, the so-called ‘supermarket deserts,’ as well as some limitations in terms of access to supermarkets. Many territorial units in Poland, especially in eastern Poland, have no large-format stores. These areas constitute retail deserts and require further micro-scale research.

Slovakia is a suitable object for the study of income inequalities. The dynamic development of the country in recent years has significantly changed the social situation of its inhabitants. This development made visible the already considerable inequalities of income and wealth at the regional level (rich West and poor East), between the city and the countryside (richer cities and poorer lagging countryside), but also among the considerably wealthy elite and marginalised populations. This contribution has three objectives. The first is to capture the development of income inequality and poverty in Slovakia, the second is to capture the distribution of income at different geographic scales, and the third is to identify low-income regions.

Urbanisation changes the landscape and fragments spatial structures including greenspaces across much of the world and Europe. The resultant impacts and morphological characteristics are understudied within peri-urban regions of cities. This study analysed the spatial qualities and relationship among peri-urban greenspaces, green structure, and urban form within the Greater Helsinki Region of Finland. Results illustrate how the existing ‘Green Fingers’ have impacted urban development patterns. Though the region includes many fragmented greenspaces, an overall interconnected and coherent intermixed green structure remains. This spatial component faces continued threats; managing the growth of peri-urban regions is critical to maintaining a green structure’s functional and morphological benefits.

The debate about exurbanites and exurbs has ever been an Anglo-American phenomenon. Due to the limitless space for growth and the individual preferences of living in single-family homes, the exurban census tracts were the fastest growing urban type in the USA for several decades. The increase in highway infrastructure lead to an auto-centric development of land and an ongoing urban sprawl in search for natural amenities and affordable housing. This was not the case in Europe for a long time as Europeans preferred to live closer to the place of work and the historically grown structures of the urban development. However, after the COVID-19 pandemic and the restructuring of a new office culture with remote work as the new condition and growing preferences for more living space and green amenities, exurbs could also evolve in the European context. In this investigation, the authors try to identify exurbs in the German context based on a multi-criteria analysis. We find that they are mostly located in the east and north of Germany around Hamburg and Berlin, and to a minor extent to the west and south of Germany. While there has not been a significant increase of exurbs in the past years, the question remains whether the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the exurbanisation and the related issues to a sustainable urban development according to SDG 11. Further research on the characteristics of exurbs is needed to provide additional policy recommendations and monitor the development of potential exurbs in the future.

The paper makes a contribution to European comparative research on spatial planning by providing an instrument-oriented methodological framework for forms of planning. Based on the main efforts to date, the main challenges of comparative research on European planning systems are identified. The author’s comparative four-dimensional model and related visual tool can be used to bridge different national languages of planning and compare various spatial forms of planning. With the tool, the nature of planning regimes, specific plans, and other planning-related activities can be identified in accordance with the dimensions of Motivation, Geography, Scope, and Instruments, making them comparable.

The aim of this article is to provide a holistic presentation of the genesis, intensity, and directions of movement, as well as the spatial and temporal distribution of the German national group which settled in Central Poland from the end of the 18th century to the 1820–1830 period. This paper analyses the determinants of the inflow of German immigrants, and their geographical origin, as well as the social and occupational structure. The settlers from German lands were a very diverse social group. In the case of first and second-generation immigrants who came to Central Poland, the social integration process was still quite slow. The colonists and settlers living in the diaspora developed a certain pattern of existence that focused on their immediate environment separating them from the outside world, while the retention of their mother tongue and religious tradition was more an expression of traditionalist consciousness than national identity.