The triumph of the placeless

• Published in: Regional studies Vol. 58; no. 3; pp. 654 - 667
• Main Author: Jones, Calvin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Routledge 03-03-2024; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Economic development; Economic wellbeing; Embeddedness; globalisation; Health status; Industrialization; inequality; Measurement; Mobility; policy; Profits; Public policy; regional development; Regions; theory
• ISSN: 0034-3404; 1360-0591
• DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2023.2236638

Although three centuries of industrialisation and growth have led to unimaginably better lives for most people, economic, well-being and health outcomes differ widely across places, both between and within polities. We suggest that policy to reduce such differences and ameliorate their impacts requires a consideration of the role of 'placeless' agents in shaping places - here, subnational regions. Prior economic development at macro-scales has rewarded and empowered placeless agents: firms, people and institutions which rely for well-being, identity and profits not on a specific place, but rather on a type or types of place. Their choosy mobility and lack of embeddedness means interactions with specific places are functionally narrow, voluntary, self-interested and potentially problematic for embedded actors, and for the health and viability of the places within which they operate. We operationalise this concept by developing notions of economic, socio-cultural and civic placelessness, make some suggestions for measurement, and assess a number of government policies developed in the region of Wales that are in part reactions to the incursion and impacts of the placeless.