List of Illustrations.- Acknowledgements.- Notes on Contributors.- 1 Re-thinking Regional and Local Policies in Times of Polarisation: An Introduction.- PART I: SOCIO-SPATIAL POLARISATION IN THE EU AND QUESTIONS OF POWER.- 2 Geographical Uneven Development and Regional Futures: A Conversation.- 3 “New” Questions of Peripherality in Europe or How Neoliberal Austerity Contradicts Socio-spatial Cohesion.- 4 State Power, Spatial Inequality, and Geographical Expertise: Notes on Method.- PART II: REGIONAL AND COHESION POLICIES (RE-)PRODUCING SOCIO-SPATIAL DISPARITIES.- 5 Re-conceptualising Territorial Cohesion Through the Prism of Spatial Justice: Critical Perspectives on Academic and Policy Discourses.- 6 Questioning the Convergence of Cohesion and Innovation Policies in Central and Eastern Europe.- 7 Divergent Paths to Cohesion: The (Unintended) Consequences of a Place-Based Cohesion Policy.- 8 Urban Growth Pole Policy and Regional Development: Old Wine in New Bottles?.- 9 Reproducing Socio-spatial Unevenness through the Institutional Logic of Dual Housing Policies in Hungary.- PART III: RESPONSES TO REGIONAL POLARISATION AND ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVES.- 10 Out-Migration from Peripheries – How Cumulated Individual Strategies Affect Local Development Capacities.- 11 Towards a Progressive Local Development Approach – Insights from Local Community Initiatives in Hungary and Romania.- 12 Bypassing Structural Shortcomings: Innovative Firms in Peripheral Regions.- 13 Leading through Image Making? On the Limits of Emphasising Agency in Structurally Disadvantaged Rural Places.- PART IV: CONCLUSIONS: ABOUT THE RELEVANCE OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH FOR POLITICAL PRACTICE AND POLICY MAKING.- 14 Translating Scientific Results: Encouraging Reflective Policies as a Chance for Change.- 15 Understanding and Going beyond the Regional Policy Paradox: Conceptual Contributions to Studying Socio-spatial Polarisation in Europe.