Frank Moulaert

Last updated

Frank Moulaert
Born (1951-04-05) 5 April 1951 (age 73)
Nationality Belgian
Alma mater University of Pennsylvania
Known for Social Innovation and territorial development, Integrated Area Development
Scientific career
Fields Social innovation, Urban and Regional Planning
Institutions Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Newcastle University
Doctoral advisor Walter Isard

Frank Moulaert is Professor of Spatial Planning at the Department of Architecture, Urban Design and Regional Planning at Catholic University of Leuven. He is Director of the Urban and Regional Planning Research Group and chairs the Leuven Space and Society Research Centre at the University. He is also a visiting professor at the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University.

Contents

Moulaert has initiated a number of research and development projects on social innovation in territorial development. He has extensively published on the subjects related to globalisation, Institutionalism, territorial innovation, social economy, social polarisation, social exclusion, integrated area development, regional development, European governance, and socioeconomic networking. Other areas of his interest include evolutionary theory and the ecology of nature parks. He is fluent in 6 European languages and have published a number of works in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish language.

Most of his recent works reflect a growing focus on urban development as well as the institutional dynamics of social innovation and social exclusion implying the need to include the cultural dynamics, artistic activities, and social economy organizations and associations into the social policy and planning arena.

Recent activities

Biography

Moulaert graduated in Business Administration from the Universitaire Faculteiten Sint-Ignatius, Antwerp, Belgium in 1971. Subsequently, he studied for Masters in Economics at the Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven, Belgium (in 1974) and then in 1977 in Regional Science from University of Pennsylvania, Department of Regional Science. In 1979, he received PhD in Regional Science at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, U.S.

He is married to Greet Debucquoy and has three children Pieter, Stijn, and Elke. When he is not travelling, he settles in his house in the small West Flanders' town of Kortrijk.

Academic career

From time to time, between 1974 until 1983, Moulaert was engaged as Research and teaching assistant in regional economics, Centrum voor Economische Studiën at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. In between, he also worked as Research and teaching assistant for Regional Science Department at University of Pennsylvania, and Peace Science Department. He was associate professor at Limburgse Economische Hogeschool, Diepenbeek.

At University of Lille I (USTL)

In 1987 he moved to Faculty of Economics and Sociology, Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille, Lille, France as associate professor in Economics and remained Professor of Economics between 1994-2002. His other capacities at University of Lille I include:

Positions held

At Newcastle University (2002–2007)

Between 2002 and 2007, he remained Professor of European Planning and Development at the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. He also led the research themes on Regeneration, Social Innovation and Inclusion at Global Urban Research Unit. Additionally, he held the positions of:

At K.U.Leuven

Since 2007, he has been working at the Faculty of Engineering, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. He chairs the Leuven Space and Society Research Centre and is head of the Research Group on Urban and Regional Planning at the Department of Architecture, Urban Design and Regional Planning. He also coordinates the European Spatial Development Planning network.

European social science research

Moulaert is an active figure in European Research Networking in social sciences. He is credited for having conducted 15% of all research projects in Social-science and Humanities for three European Commission Framework Projects (FP4, FP5, and FP6) combined. Among the many successful social science projects coordinated and steered by Moulaert, some include:

Selected publications

Edited books

Special edited issues of journals

Articles in refereed journals

Chapters in books

See also

Related Research Articles

Regional science is a field of the social sciences concerned with analytical approaches to problems that are specifically urban, rural, or regional. Topics in regional science include, but are not limited to location theory or spatial economics, location modeling, transportation, migration analysis, land use and urban development, interindustry analysis, environmental and ecological analysis, resource management, urban and regional policy analysis, geographical information systems, and spatial data analysis. In the broadest sense, any social science analysis that has a spatial dimension is embraced by regional scientists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economic geography</span> Subfield of human geography and economics

Economic geography is the subfield of human geography that studies economic activity and factors affecting it. It can also be considered a subfield or method in economics. There are four branches of economic geography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rural area</span> Geographic area outside towns and cities

In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically described as rural, as well as other areas lacking substantial development. Different countries have varying definitions of rural for statistical and administrative purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spatial planning</span> Technique for physical organisation of space

Spatial planning mediates between the respective claims on space of the state, market, and community. In so doing, three different mechanisms of involving stakeholders, integrating sectoral policies and promoting development projects mark the three schools of transformative strategy formulation, innovation action and performance in spatial planning

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Masahisa Fujita</span> Japanese economist (born 1943)

Masahisa Fujita is a Japanese economist who has studied regional science, urban economics, international trade, and spatial economy. He is a professor at Konan University and an adjunct professor at Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Structural and Investment Funds</span> European Union financial tools

The European Structural and Investment Funds are financial tools governed by a common rulebook, set up to implement the regional policy of the European Union, as well as the structural policy pillars of the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy. They aim to reduce regional disparities in income, wealth and opportunities. Europe's poorer regions receive most of the support, but all European regions are eligible for funding under the policy's various funds and programmes. The current framework is set for a period of seven years, from 2021 to 2027.

The Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, also called Framework Programmes or abbreviated FP1 to FP9, are funding programmes created by the European Union/European Commission to support and foster research in the European Research Area (ERA). Starting in 2014, the funding programmes were named Horizon.

Erik Achille Marie Swyngedouw is professor of geography at the University of Manchester in the School of Environment, Education and Development and a member of the Manchester Urban Institute.

Regional economics is a sub-discipline of economics and is often regarded as one of the fields of the social sciences. It addresses the economic aspect of the regional problems that are spatially analyzable so that theoretical or policy implications can be the derived with respect to regions whose geographical scope ranges from local to global areas.

Interreg is a series of programmes to stimulate cooperation between regions in and out of the European Union (EU), funded by the European Regional Development Fund. The first Interreg started in 1989. Interreg IV covered the period 2007–2013. Interreg V (2014–2020) covers all 27 EU member states, the EFTA countries, six accession countries and 18 neighbouring countries. It has a budget of EUR 10.1 billion, which represents 2.8% of the total of the European Cohesion Policy budget. Since the non EU countries don't pay EU membership fee, they contribute directly to Interreg, not through ERDF.

Jean Hillier is Professor Emerita in the Centre for Urban Research at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.

Geoff Vigar is Professor at School of Architecture, Planning & Landscape, Newcastle University. Currently he is the Director of Global Urban Research Unit at the university.

Social polarization is the segregation within a society that emerges when factors such as income inequality, real-estate fluctuations and economic displacement result in the differentiation of social groups from high-income to low-income. It is a state and/or a tendency denoting the growth of groups at the extremities of the social hierarchy and the parallel shrinking of groups around its middle.

The European Spatial Development Planning or ESDP-Network seeks to promote education, research and professional training in spatial planning across European countries, in collaboration with many partners in other regions of the world. To this purpose it considers planning as a process and a change agenda.

Luc E. Anselin is one of the developers of the field of spatial econometrics.

Simin Davoudi FAcSS is Professor of Environmental Policy and Planning at Newcastle University. She is Past President of the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) and, as coordinator of the Planning Research Network, advised the Department of Communities and Local Government on its research priorities until 2007. Currently, she is a member of the DCLG Expert Panel on Housing market and Planning, and is expert advisor for the DG Environment of European Commission for Urban Environment.

Rural economics is the study of rural economies. Rural economies include both agricultural and non-agricultural industries, so rural economics has broader concerns than agricultural economics which focus more on food systems. Rural development and finance attempt to solve larger challenges within rural economics. These economic issues are often connected to the migration from rural areas due to lack of economic activities and rural poverty. Some interventions have been very successful in some parts of the world, with rural electrification and rural tourism providing anchors for transforming economies in some rural areas. These challenges often create rural-urban income disparities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franco Archibugi</span> Italian scholar (1926–2020)

Franco Archibugi was an Italian scholar in political, economic and social sciences, university professor in economic policy and spatial planning. He largely operated in Italy and in international governmental agencies; including in the field of economic development, social welfare and cooperation policy. Archibugi was the author of several works in planning theory and methodology, and was among the theorists and promoters of a new unitary discipline of planning – the “Planology” – aimed at creating a bridge between the theoretical scientific progress in economics and other social sciences with the actual political and administrative efficiency and management. After retiring from academia, he was still an active researcher as President of the Planning Studies Centre. He died in Rome in November 2020 at the age of 94.

City Mine(d) is a non-profit organisation based in Brussels, Belgium, focused on urban design and social activism. It seeks to involve citizens in the development of public spaces, and has offshoots in several other cities around the world. Its aim is "to make urban design everyone's business".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">15th Government of Slovenia</span> 15th Government of Slovenia, headed by Robert Golob

15th Government of Slovenia was formed by Robert Golob following the 2022 Slovenian parliamentary election. Robert Golob, leader of the Freedom Movement, was nominated as Prime Minister, and was approved as such on 25 May. The government has the largest number of ministries after the 1st Government of Slovenia.