Louise Kempton is Senior Research Associate at the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS), Newcastle University, UK.

Maria Conceição Rego is Professor in the Department of Economics and a researcher in the Centre for Advanced Studies in Management and Economics (CEFAGE), University of Évora, Portugal.

Lucir Reinaldo Alves is Professor in the Department of Economics and a researcher in the Centre for Regional Development (NDR), Western Paraná State University, Brazil and a researcher in the Centre of Geographical Studies (CEG) at the University of Lisbon, Portugal.

Paul Vallance is a Research Associate in the Centre for Regional Economic and Enterprise Development (CREED), Sheffield University Management School, University of Sheffield, UK.

Maurício Aguiar Serra is Professor of Economic Development in the Institute of Economics, University of Campinas, Brazil.

Mark Tewdwr-Jones is UCL Bartlett Professor of Cities and Regions, The Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA), University College London, UK.