In a session chaired by Nancy Holman, Lewis Dijkstra will be discussing regional growth, local development and Euroscepticism with Riccardo Crescenzi. 

Cities and regions across the world are experiencing pressures on the housing, governance and sustainability fronts. Challenges such as creating sustainable transport links, enhancing local democracy or tackling housing shortage push urbanists to think creatively. Founded in 1966, LSE's MSc Regional and Urban Planning Studies (RUPS) programme has established its reputation as a key player in urban innovation with alumni working in public policy, architecture, think tanks and government across the world. Our new series Progressing Planning is designed to showcase LSE's impact on urban issues by bringing together academics and RUPS alumni. In so doing, we aim to show how research at LSE links to practice across the world.

This interactive session will bring together professionals, academics and the public around presentations and a general discussion.

Riccardo Crescenzi is a Professor of Economic Geography at the London School of Economics. His research is focused on regional economic development, innovation, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and multinationals and the analysis and evaluation of European Union policies. 

Lewis Dijkstra is the Head of the Analysis Unit in the Directorate-General for Regional Policy of the European Commission. He is responsible for the Cohesion Reports and the development of new regional and urban indicators. For his work he has initiated joint projects with Eurostat, the OECD, the Joint Research Centre, the World Bank and the European Environmental Agency. He has published articles on issues such as regional quality of government, regional competitiveness, labour mobility, metropolitan regions, patterns of economic growth and urbanisation. He holds a PhD in Urban and regional planning.

Nancy Holman joined the LSE Department of Geography & Environment in August 2008 having previously managed the MSc in Housing and Regeneration in the Department of Social Policy also at the London School of Economics and Political Science. A planner by training she has a PhD in Urban Policy (University of Portsmouth, 1999) and an MSc in Community and Regional Planning (University of Texas, 1996). Her work deals primarily with issues of governance and local planning including sustainable development and community participation. She has often used social network analysis to explore the complex relationships in the multi-level, multi-actor partnerships present in modern governing arrangements.

RUPS (Regional and Urban Planning Studies) is a strongly focused and internationally based planning programme with a long tradition in training both people seeking careers in urban and regional planning policy and mid-career professionals.

LSE London is a research centre at the LSE that focuses on the economic and social issues of the London region, as well as the problems and possibilities of other urban and metropolitan regions. The centre has a strong international reputation particularly in the fields of labour markets, social and demographic change, housing, finance, and governance, and it is the leading academic centre for analyses of city-wide developments in London.

Please provide any feedback after the event at https://tinyurl.com/progressingplanningfeedback 

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