Advancing spatial ontology in evolutionary economic geography

Although evolutionary economic geography has been popular in economic geography, it has also been criticized for, among others, a weak geographical conceptualization, which has become evident, particularly in empirical research on related and unrelated variety. Therefore, this paper advances a spatial ontology, which is embedded in critical realism and social constructivism, and will empower evolutionary economic geography to understand and explain the impact of both economic crises and grand societal challenges on regional economic change, in a more place and scale-sensitive manner. Moreover, and relatedly, it will enable a better understanding of the main drivers of regional economic change.