AsPIRE: Aspatial Peripherality, Innovation and the Rural Economy (2001-2004)

The term "aspatial peripherality" indicates regional deficits which are often associated with peripheral location but can also appear in centrally located regions. In a time when physical distance or travel cost are less and less restrictions to economic activity, such deficits as insufficient utilisation of new information and communication technologies or poor networks between local firms, development agencies and markets are becoming more and more important for central as for peripheral regions. The project AsPIRE ("Aspatial Peripherality, Innovation and the Rural Economy") was to define the term "aspatial peripherality", to develop a method to measure it using regional indicators and to make recommendations how to overcome it. AsPIRE was a co-operation of partners from seven countries under the co-ordination of the Rural Policy Group of the Scottish Agricultural College in Aberdeen, United Kingdom. S&W collaborated in the project with the Institute of Spatial Planning of the University of Dortmund (IRPUD). The Final Report is available for download. A project report by IRPUD and S&W, Aspatial Peripherality in Europe, is available on the IRPUD homepage.