Regional Inequalities and Perceived Left-Behindness: Grete Gansauer on Spatial Imaginaries

The second in a webinar series that explores how feelings of relative deprivation, spatial inequalities, and socio-economic discontent are reshaping regional trajectories and influencing economic outcomes. By bringing together scholars working at the intersection of perception, well-being, and place, the series aims to foster a deeper understanding of how these dimensions can enrich regional analysis, inform policy, and ultimately contribute to more inclusive territorial development.

In this session, Grete Gansauer presents "Emerging spatial imaginaries of 'left behind' places in US policy discourse."

About the speaker:
Grete Gansauer is an economic geographer and interdisciplinary public policy researcher focused on regional development, place-based policy, and the local state in peripheral regions and ‘left behind’ places. Her interest in rural community development sprouted while leading NGO programs and convening collaborative governance forums on environmental issues in Western Montana timber and mining communities in her early career. Today, her research maintains a focus on rural areas and natural resource production. Using qualitative policy analysis methods and place-based case studies, her research examines regional development and sustainability challenges amidst spatial inequality, and how central policies ‘touch down’ at the regional level. She has held fellowships and visiting appointments with the US Department of Agriculture, National Academies of Sciences in Washington DC, and University of Cambridge, leading her to collaborate on research in the US, UK and Finland. Currently, she is a board member of the Regional Studies Association, and she co-organizes EdgeNet, a global research network on peripheral regions and why they matter

Introduction by Max Roessler (Uni Greifswald). Hosted by Crhistian Joel González Cuatianquis and Max Roessler of the YSI Urban and Regional Economics Working Groups and the YSI Behavior and Society Working Group, in collaboration with the Regional Studies Association (RSA).

Join the next session live!

October 15, 2025 (15:00-16:00 CEST) – Electoral outcomes as a form of discontent (Arndt Leininger – Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany) Register at https://ysi.ineteconomics.org/event/y...

November 12, 2025 (15:00-16:00 CEST) – Policy, Perception and Place: Rethinking Regional Development Strategies (Malin Roiha & Emma Fàbrega – European Social Research Unit & University of Barcelona, Spain). Register at https://ysi.ineteconomics.org/event/y...

YSI is an initiative of the Institute for New Economic Thinking.

Twitter:   / ysi_commons​​​  
Instagram:   / ysicommunity  
Facebook:   / youngscholarsinitiative  
Blog: https://www.economicquestions.org/​​​