Aim of the research project
The aim of the project is twofold: First, we want to generate scientific knowledge about SMTs, particularly regarding their economic structures and trajectories as well as their linkages to metropolitan regions. Second, we plan to identify economic and political strategies that influence development dynamics of SMTs and their respective success in relation to the metropolitan regions.
An examination of SMTs is important given the importance of polycentric development as a spatial development goal at the European and at the Swiss national level. The anticipated benefit of the project is both scientific and practical in that the project contributes to fundamental knowledge about SMTs and it informs political actors and policymakers at all levels about development strategies and their influence on welfare and prosperity in small and medium-sized towns
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