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Dear list members, Please find below a call for papers for a special session at the Regional Studies Association Global Conference in Beijing, 29th June - 1st July, 2018. Apologies for cross-posting SS2. Exploring the Restructuring of Mature Industry Clusters in East Asia Session organiser(s) Robert Hassink ([log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>), Kiel University, Germany Xiaohui Hu ([log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>), Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, China Natsuki Kamakura ([log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>), The University of Tokyo, Japan East Asia is currently considered to be the most dynamic economic region in the world, which has been caused by a shift of manufacturing industry from Japan, the first industrializing nation in East Asia, to neighboring Taiwan, South Korea and China, and more recently to countries in South East Asia. This shift has been accompanied by restructuring problems and policies in traditional and mature industry clusters in the different economies of East Asia (Hassink et al. 2017). At the same time, these clusters have become increasingly interconnected due to the increasing economic integration in East Asia. Investment and trade flows have intensified between East Asian economies where mature industry clusters are not only embedded in global production networks, but increasingly also in East Asian production networks (Aoyama 2016). The restructuring of mature industry clusters is also strongly affected by differing industry and innovation policies at the national and regional level. These policies might also support industrial efficiency through Industry 4.0 or similar industry-transformation strategies (e.g. in particular, tenglong huanniao; jiqi huanren; and tese xiaozhen in China). Against this background, we aim at exploring restructuring processes and policies in mature industry clusters in East Asia, as well as their similarities and differences. Theoretically, we particularly welcome papers working with both evolutionary concepts (Boschma and Frenken 2018), such as path dependence, path creation, lock-ins, adaptability and resilience, concepts around global production networks and strategic coupling (Coe and Yeung 2016), as well as concepts embedded in the broader integrative paradigm of economic geography (Hassink and Gong 2017). Potential topics on the restructuring of mature industry clusters in East Asia include but are not limited to the following: regional path dependence, lock-in/out, path creation and path plasticity related and unrelated variety, regional economic diversity and specialization, smart specialization adaptation, adaptability and regional economic resilience institutions, institutional change, multi-scalar policies and politics developmental, post-developmental state and restructuring state-owned enterprises and restructuring human agency, collective action, place leadership the dynamics of inter-firm networks, global production networks, strategic coupling upgrading and downgrading processes (Zhu & Pickles 2014) Industry 4.0, digitalization, robotic manufacturing Specialty Town Strategy and regional cluster evolution in China labor dynamics, mobility, social agency and cluster development Based on the presentations, we aim at publishing a special issue in a SSCI journal. References Aoyama, Y. (2016). Reorienting the drivers of development: alternative paradigms. Area Development and Policy, 1, 295-304. Boschma, R., Frenken, K. (2018) Evolutionary Economic Geography. In G. Clark, M. Gertler, M. P. Feldman, D. Wójcik (eds) The New Oxford Handbook of Economic Geography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Coe, N.M., Yeung, H.W.C. (2015). Global production networks: Theorizing economic development in an interconnected world. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hassink, R., Gong, H. (2017). Sketching the Contours of an Integrative Paradigm of Economic Geography. Lund: CIRCLE, Papers in Innovation Studies, Paper no. 2017/12. Hassink, R., Hu, X., Shin, D. H., Yamamura, S., & Gong, H. (2017). The restructuring of old industrial areas in East Asia. Area Development and Policy, 1-18. Zhu, S., Pickles, J. (2014). Bring in, go up, go west, go out: Upgrading, regionalisation and delocalisation in China’s apparel production networks. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 44(1), 36-63. Submission guidelines Please submit proposals for papers in the form of a 250-word abstract (text only) through the RSA conference portal by 28th February 2018. Proposals will be considered by the session organisers against the criteria of originality, interest and subject balance. https://members.regionalstudies.org/lounge/Meetings/Meeting?ID=193 <https://members.regionalstudies.org/lounge/Meetings/Meeting?ID=193> ____________________ Dr. Xiaohui Hu Assistant Professor of Economic Geography School of Public Affair Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics Website: http://ggxy.zufe.edu.cn/info/1106/1850.htm <http://ggxy.zufe.edu.cn/info/1106/1850.htm> Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Xiaohui_Hu5 <https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Xiaohui_Hu5>