Production and Consumption Geographies

The last 15 years have been tumultuous for the global economy. By several measures, global integration stalled in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis that unfolded in 2007-08, and the ensuing period has seen the rise of economic nationalism, trade wars, Brexit and, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic. Seeming certainties about the serene progress of neoliberal globalization and the associated development of global production networks have been disrupted by new discussions of decoupling, reshoring and localization. Industrial strategy and state ownership are back on the agenda, albeit unevenly pursued across a multi-polar global economy marked by geopolitical rifts. At the same time, retail and consumption geographies have been profoundly transformed both by the continued rise of the middle class in Asia, and by the accelerating growth of online shopping, a dynamic exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and leading to the rapid development of new logistics infrastructures. This theme welcomes submissions – theoretical, empirical and methodological – on all aspects of these topics, including, but not limited to: