The abandoned, the depressed, and the sacrificed: stretching the terms of the economic geographical debate on left-behind places

2025/11/10 by Nicholas A. Phelps, Miguel Atienza, Martín Arias‐Loyola · 1 voice
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Social Sciences · #Place Attachment and Urban Studies #Rural development and sustainability #Urban Planning and Governance

paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/jeg/lbaf057

openalex publication_date 2025/11/10 · openalex created_date 2025/12/09 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/23

Abstract

Abstract This commentary broadens the terms of the debate on left-behind places. It revisits the theoretical roots of discussions about uneven development to incorporate Global South experiences and proposes a typology to understand the processes underlying abandoned, depressed, and sacrificed places.

Citations

• Regional Inequality and the Process of National Development: A Description of the Patterns
• The revenge of the places that don’t matter (and what to do about it)
• Left-behind versus unequal places: interpersonal inequality, economic decline and the rise of populism in the USA and Europe

Discussions

• There is a difference between missing the train and being tied to the tracks. In the Journal of Economic Geography, Phelps, Atienza & @mariasloyola.bsky.social outline "sacrificed" regions, where harm [bsky, 3 points, 0 comments]

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• ‘Left behind places’: what are they and why do they matter?
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• The revenge of the places that don’t matter (and what to do about it)
• Infrastructures of (Dis)Connection: Declining Overseas Development Assistance and the Shifting Geographies of Development