Antipode 253, 1993, pp. 177-190 ISSN zyxwvut 0066 4812 PLACE AND SPACE IN CONTEMPORARY EUROPE: SOME LESSONS AND REFLECTIONS" Huw Beynont Ray Hudson* zyxw Introduction There are undoubtedly forces at work which zyx will exacerbate spatial inequalities within Europe and pose a serious threat to many cities and regions in the 1990s. The continuing, though problematic, deepening of economic and political integration within the European Community (EC) will create more room in which market forces can operate, inten- sifying processes of economic restructuring. At the same time, there are growing pressures for enlargement of the EC, from the countries of the European Free Trade Area and, more significantly, those of eastern Europe, where profound political changes are opening up these econ- omies to international capital. One result of these changes will be to accelerate the movement of capital, and with it the process of plants closing and relocating which became familiar in the 1970s and 1980s. The dangers that these changes pose to many existing urban areas and regions within the EC are recognized by the Community's decision to allocate more resources to its structural funds (such as the regional development and social funds) to increase investment in infrastructure, education and training facilities in peripheral areas (Millan, 1991). It is hoped that this will provide a basis from which peripheral regions will be able to pursue their own development strategies and narrow the gap between them and the Community's more affluent regions. * This is a revised version of a paper presented to the conference on Undefended Cities and Regions Facing the New European Order, 27 August-1 September, 1991, Lemnos. A version of it was also presented to the Research Course zyxw in Regional Geography, Regional Restructuring:Theoretical and Methodological Approaches, Malvik, 23-6 September, 1991, by Ray Hudson. t University of Manchester $ University of Durham zyxwvu 0 1993 Editorial Board of zyxwvu Antipode. Published by Blackwell Publishers, zyxwv 238 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA, and 108 Cowley Road, Oxford zyxwvu OX4 1JF UK.