Research projects

Regional disparities pose a major challenge to economic, social, and territorial cohesion across Europe. The project analysed socio-economic inequalities in selected EU Member States and developed evidence-based recommendations for a more place-sensitive European cohesion policy.

The ILS was responsible for the project's conceptual and methodological framework. This included the development and harmonisation of a comparable indicator system, the design of a common analytical framework for assessing regional disparities, and the methodological coordination of the national case studies. In addition, the ILS led the spatial analyses and supported the development of interactive maps to visualise regional inequalities across Europe.

The project provides a comparable evidence base for analysing regional disparities across Europe and supports the development of more effective, place-based cohesion policies. The methodological framework developed by the ILS also served as the foundation for subsequent regional disparities studies at the national and regional levels.