The theoretical development of economic geography in the 21st century: Towards the hybridisation of the scientific projects in the discipline

Abstract

Economic geography has shown a remarkable disciplinary dynamism during the first two decades of the 21st century. Such dynamism has boosted interaction between the three scientific projects that have driven the discipline since its inception at the end of the 19th century: the environmental project, concerned with the relationship between economy and Nature; the locational project, which identifies the spatial location patterns of economic activities and their implications for regional development; and the structural-contextual project, focused on the interdependence between the global structures of capitalist accumulation and the diversity of local socioeconomic trajectories. This intra-disciplinary interaction is leading towards a more integrated, fluid and hybrid economic geography, as a response to the transversal nature of environmental, economic, social and political problems that challenge Humanity. This hybridisation, anchored in the acknowledged capacity of economic geography to dialogue with theoretical advances from other sciences, is closely related to the growing influence of environmentalist approaches and concerns onto both locational and structural-contextual projects, which have traditionally been more interested in the spatial and socio-territorial dimensions of the economy.