People, places and economic development. The challenge of convergence

The objective of economic, social and territorial cohesion within the European Union has been threatened by the advent of the crisis. Understanding the territorial impact of the crisis at the different spatial levels, from cities to regions to the member states, is necessary to set up the correct policy answer to the threat of a missing convergence in the long-urn. This work attempts to clarify what happened to the process of convergence in the union after the beginning of the 2007 downturn and aims at presenting the weaknesses of this process, that the downturn may have amplified. The ultimate goal is to identify the relevant questions that policy makers urgently need to address to ensure a faster recovery and a more rapid and durable convergence.