Institute for Economic Geography, Regional Development and Environmental Management, Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien

The staff consists of experts in Austrian, European and world-wide development problems. Its focus is multi-scalar and interdisciplinary, focussing on inclusive strategies of political and social development. The department has been involved in comparative research on governance, grassroots democracy and participatory planning as well as research on a form of collective participation in the public domain (URSPIC, SINGOCOM, DEMOLOGOS). Long-term cooperation with the Department of Economics permits to link the social science approach of SRE to political economy and topics of economic inequality. This cooperation has been focused on theoretical issues of regulation and space and on comparative research on local development and urban governance in Central Europa and the Southern Cone of Latin America. SRE is well integrated in the international scientific community, and has acquired increasing knowledge in the dissemination of its research to local civil society in Vienna as well as performing a broader dialogue with political actors in the area of development cooperation and a more democratic governance of Europe.