In recent decades, manufacturing industries in Europe have undergone a deep transformation due to global market competition, automation, and adaptation to globalized production patterns. The impact of deindustrialization and regional restructuring has been particularly strong on regions outside of metropolitan areas, which may be locked in their specific development path and cannot benefit from agglomeration effects. However, scholars are increasingly shifting their attention to processes of regional renewal, emphasizing the strengths and potentials of such regions. Such potentials holds the concept of Industrial Culture which is defined as a particular cultural setting made up of certain intangible assets, such as skills, attitudes, traditions, tangible monuments, and artefacts. Based on the case study of the district of Zwickau, the authors identify three dimensions of Industrial Culture. These cultural, social, and economic aspects can be underscored by different—albeit often overlapping—actions, opening up new development options for the region if embedded in a broad network of regional actors. Industrial Culture can thus be perceived as a strategic concept to form a coherent approach of regional development by integrating various existing activities in a region.

Socio-spatial cohesion can be seen as one of the core issues of the European Union. However, the goal is far from being achieved. Diverging economic and social development patterns can be witnessed at various scales. This trend is closely linked to a shift in European cohesion policies in recent decades from redistributive to growth- and competitiveness-oriented policies. The results are parallel processes of centralisation and peripheralisation causing specific patterns of regional polarisation and affecting the ultimate goal to achieve territorial cohesion or, in other words, spatial justice. For this introductory chapter, we have identified three interconnected issues to look at when speaking about issues of socio-spatial polarisation and spatial justice: (1) the role of existing power relations in (re-)producing socio-spatial polarisation, (2) the failure of Cohesion Policy to support more balanced territorial development and, as a counterpoint, (3) the potentials of bottom-up initiatives and place-sensitive approaches to overcome current tendencies of polarisation. To each of these three issues, we directly link related conceptual and empirical contributions. Finally, we conclude with a call to rethink regional policies and find more just answers to current problems of regional development.