1-Case Studies and Comparative Methodology
This research topics will be worked through potential case studies. Case studies can be seen as the nexus between research questions addressed and developed in the review work packages, scenario-focused and spatially flexible methodological approaches and scientific and policy impact. At the same time, the chosen locations for case studies are the concrete places where links to stakeholders on various scales are established and local and regional practice partners get interested and involved in the project. Different mechanisms (including the project’s interactive website as a knowledge-sharing environment, focus group discussions, workshops) work towards this involvement, from analysis to scenario building. Furthermore, the case studies link the findings from longitudinal studies of socio-spatial inequality to an analysis of the wider socio-economic and territorial context in which these are produced.
Case study locations will thus be chosen to allow for a balanced representation of different institutional contexts, manifested in terms of five welfare regimes. These are:
- a) Society-based (social democratic): Finland (2), Sweden (2)
- b) Liberal: UK (Scotland 1, England 2)
- c) State-based: Netherlands (2), Luxembourg (1), France (1), Germany (2)
- d) Family-based: Spain (4), Greece (4)
- e) Transitional-post socialist: Hungary (4), Poland (4), Romania (4)
