Territorial Cohesion in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden 2007 and 2017

Abstract

To what extent territorial cohesion is achieved or not, due to the EU Cohesion Policy, national regional policies, or globalization forces, is debated. This paper aims at discussing territorial cohesion at a NUTS 3 level in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden for 2007 and 2017 by using the Territorial Cohesion Development Index. The findings indicate a) that bigger cities and highly urbanized regions in Denmark, Finland and Sweden perform very well in the Territorial Cohesion Development Index, while non-core and peripheral regions fell further behind; and b) all Norwegian regions and the Åland Islands have high scores in the Territorial Cohesion Development Index. The findings indicate a need to resuscitate the national regional policies in Denmark, Finland and Sweden to counteract the increasing gap between the capital region and the rest of the regions.