“Left-behind Britain” and “France Périphérique”

Regional inequalities between metropolitan areas and other parts of the country have been a long standing feature of the geography of the UK and France. In the aftermath of the Brexit referendum, and in the context of the “Gilets Jaunes” protests, debates about territorial divides, socio-economic and class inequalities have intensified.

In this panel, speakers from the UK and France will unpack media, political and scholarly narratives of “left-behind” and “peripheral” places, and assess the role of different stakeholders in constructing and countering those narratives. How have such terms become popular? How (un)helpful are they? Do they conflate the social and spatial dimensions of inequality? How can research institutions, think-tanks, journalists and others produce helpful research and reporting to improve public debates and policy solutions and help mend socio-territorial divides in convoluted times?

Panellists include: Claire Colomb, Aurélien Delpirou, Adrian Favell, Sarah Longlands, Philippe Marlière, Sophie Pedder, Olivier Sykes, and John Tomaney.

Organised by Cities partnerships Programme with UCL European Institute and UCL’s Grand Challenge of Cultural Understanding European Voices initiative. With support from the French Embassy in the UK - Higher Education Research and Innovation Department (in association with The Borders of Identity seminar series supported by the Fonds d’Alembert 2019).

Image: © Claire Colomb