Territorial Infrastructures, Real Estate and Socio-Economic Impacts

Dear Colleagues,

Infrastructures support and sustain economic and social activities by connecting spatially dispersed areas and facilitating the movement of key economic inputs. All types of infrastructures, such as physical infrastructures (e.g., roads, railways, ports, and bridges), social infrastructures (e.g., educational institutions and facilities supporting health and well-being), and digital infrastructures, play significant roles in creating economic opportunities and can arguably promote economic prosperity. Moreover, infrastructure investments have been commonly used as policy tools to spur economic growth at both national and sub-national scales and boost national, regional, and local economies.

A key channel through which economic growth can be realized is the real estate sector. As regions become connected, new socio-economic opportunities are created. New building investments and improvements to existing buildings are required to host and support new and expanded socio-economic activities. Such dynamics are especially quite intense both in cities and in inner territories. On the one hand, with massive rural–urban migration across many parts of the world, cities, as the centers of socio-economic activities, are facing a huge demand for all types of infrastructures as well as commercial and residential buildings. On the other hand, inner territories have to face depopulation and the decrease in basic services: in this case, the infrastructures can play a significant role in developing a supra-municipal network and attracting new inhabitants and tourist flows. However, there are massive challenges to meet these different demands—from financing to appropriate institutional frameworks, and from political dynamics to the consideration of various temporal and cross-sectional impacts. Moreover, climate change concerns put question marks on the suitability of traditional approaches to infrastructures in delivering desirable benefits within net-zero targets and principles. While these issues are well-recognized, the answers and solutions are far from being clear and definitive.

In this Special Issue, we aim to publish scholarly works from around the world that will contribute new knowledge across three broad areas: (a) short- and long-term socio-economic impacts; (b) property market dynamics; (c) new areas of concerns, opportunities, and solutions (e.g., climate change and digitalization).

Suggested article type:

In this Special Issue, we seek to explore various research issues within the above context. We will accept original contributions of 8,000–10,000 words following the journal guidelines.

The focus can be on: (a) any geography and territorial scale; (b) theoretical contributions; (c) empirical evidence (using quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods) based on sound theoretical underpinnings.

An indicative list of anticipated themes is as follows:

• Territorial infrastructure endowment and the extent of socio-economic benefits;
• Speculative demand for real estate due to changes in urban and territorial infrastructures;
• Changes in urban form and the emergence of new urban areas through infrastructure investment;
• Uplifting of land value due to infrastructure interventions;
• Land value capture tools and their effectiveness;
• Institutional frameworks to support territorial investments;
• Dynamics of urban–rural linkages and infrastructure investments for territorial enhancement;
• Inequalities at various spatial scales triggered and addressed through territorial interventions;
• Demographic issues driven by infrastructures, e.g., urban–rural migration, gentrification, and repopulation;
• Green infrastructure to mitigate climate change concerns and promote sustainable urban living;
• Digital infrastructure to support new ways of working and living;
• Use of new infrastructure technologies to address socio-economic imbalances.

Dr. Diana Rolando
Dr. Manuela Rebaudengo
Dr. Alice Barreca
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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