New directions in researching regional economic resilience and adaptation

The paper has two objectives. Firstly, to disentangle several debates with regard to regional economic resilience: What is it exactly? Which types can we distinguish? How can we operationalise it? And how can we conceptualise how it works? The second objective is to outline new directions for researching regional economic resilience. Thus far, research on regional economic resilience has been dominated by quantitative studies looking at how regional economies resisted and recovered from macro-economic downturns (especially the most recent one). I will argue that fruitful new directions are to be found in further developing evolutionary conceptions of regional economic resilience, especially in relation to structural changes in the wider economy. Such evolutionary conceptions do away with notions of equilibrium altogether, and can thus encompass the complete transformation of regional economies. In terms of research focus, this entails homing in on the possible mechanisms through which the processes of reorganisation and reorientation take place within regional economies that undergo adaptation. And in terms of research methodology, this will require more research based on a comparative case study design, using a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods