Staff Profile

Roles and Responsibilities

Director, Centre for Urban & Regional Development Studies (CURDS)

Qualifications

Ma (Hons) Geography, University of Dundee, 1995 

PhD Geography, University of Edinburgh, 1998

Background

2009-2013: Senior Research Fellow, School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow.

2001-2009: Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Human Geography, University of Aberdeen.

2000-2001: Research Fellow, Department of Geography and Environment, University of Aberdeen.

1999-2000: Research Associate, Department of City and Regional Planning, Cardiff University.

Memberships

Royal Geographical Society/ Institute of British Geographers (RGS / IBG)

Google scholar profile

https//scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=SYM67L8AAAAJ

Research Interests  

I am an economic and political geographer whose research is centrally concerned with the institutions and politics of local and regional development. Recent work has contributed to debates in Evolutionary Economic Geography and to questions of urban and regional adaptation and change in particular. Since 2021, I have been leading an international project titled 'Beyond left behind places' with colleagues in CURDS/UCL, France & Germany. My future research agenda involves linking urban and regional development to sustainability transitions through new projects on: new renewable energy paths for coastal economies; labour market transition in energy intensive regions; and, joined-up sustainability transition at the community level (as part of a new ESRC Centre for equitable and sustainable low carbon living, led by the University of Manchester).

Current Postgraduate Supervision

Laura Ginn

Jeroen Royer (based at IfL Leipzig & University of Jena)

Undergraduate Teaching

GEO2099 Economic Geography

GEO3114 Local and Regional Development

Postgraduate Teaching

GEO8030 Geographical Inequalities & Policy

• Articles

  • Le Petit-Guerin M, Velthuis S, Royer J, Cauchi-Duval N, Franklin R, Leibert T, MacKinnon D, Pike A. Identifying trajectories of regional 'left-behindness' in the EU15 from 1982 to 2017. ZFW - Advances in Economic Geography 2025, Epub ahead of print.
  • Mackinnon D, Kinossian N, Pike A, Beal V, Lang T, Rousseau M, Tomaney J. Spatial Policy Since the Global Financial Crisis. European Urban & Regional Studies 2024, epub ahead of print.
  • Velthuis S, Royer J, Le Petit-Guerin M, Cauchi-Duval N, Franklin R, Leibert T, MacKinnon D, Pike A. Regional varieties of 'left-behindness' in the EU15. Regional Studies 2025, 59(1), 2417704.
  • Sanderson R, Franklin R, MacKinnon D, Matthews J. Left out and invisible? : exploring social media representation of 'left behind places'. GeoJournal 2024, 89, 37.
  • Sanderson R, Franklin R, MacKinnon D, Matthews J. Left behind and left out: Evaluating (dis)connections in the spatially focused migration network of England and Wales. Population, Space and Place 2024, 30(1), e2722.
  • Crisp R, Waite D, Green A, Hughes C, Lupton R, MacKinnon D, Pike A. 'Beyond GDP' in cities: Assessing alternative approaches to urban economic development. Urban Studies 2024, 61(7), 1209-1229.
  • Pike A, Beal V, Cauchi-Duval N, Franklin R, Kinossian N, Lang T, Leibert T, MacKinnon D, Rousseau M, Royer J, Servillo L, Tomaney J, Velthuis S. ‘Left behind places’: a geographical etymology. Regional Studies 2024, 58(6), 1167-1179.
  • MacKinnon D, Afewerki S, Karlsen A. Technology legitimation and strategic coupling: A cross-national study of floating wind power in Norway and Scotland. Geoforum 2022, 135, 1-11.
  • MacKinnon D, Kempton L, O'Brien P, Ormerod E, Pike A, Tomaney J. Reframing urban and regional 'development' for 'left behind' places. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy & Society 2022, 15(1), 39-56.
  • MacKinnon D, Karlsen A, Dawley S, Steen M, Afewerki S, Kenzhegaliyeva A. Legitimation, institutions and regional path creation: a cross-national study of offshore wind. Regional Studies 2022, 56(4), 644-655.
  • MacKinnon D. Making sense of the Northern Powerhouse. Revue Française de Civilisation Britannique 2020, XXV-2, 1-18.
  • MacKinnon D. Governing uneven development: the Northern Powerhouse as a ‘state spatial strategy’. Territory, Politics, Governance 2020, n/a, n/a.
  • Pike A, Coombes M, Kempton L, MacKinnon D, O'Brien P. Decentralising governance in England. Town & Country Planning 2020, 89(11), 409-416.
  • MacKinnon D, Dawley S, Pike A, Cumbers A. Rethinking Path Creation: A Geographical Political Economy Approach. Economic Geography 2019, 95(2), 113-135.
  • MacKinnon D, Dawley S, Steen M, Menzel MP, Karlsen A, Sommer P, Hansen GH, Normann HE. Path creation, global production networks and regional development: a comparative international analysis of the offshore wind sector. Progress in Planning 2019, 130, 1-32.
  • Dawley S, Mackinnon D, Pollock R. Creating strategic couplings in global production networks: regional institutions and lead firm investment in the Humber region, UK. Journal of Economic Geography 2019, 19(4), 853-872.
  • Afewerki S, Karlsen A, MacKinnon D. Configuring floating production networks: A case study of a new offshore wind technology across two oil and gas economies. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift 2019, 73(1), 4-15.
  • Hastings T, MacKinnon D. Re-embedding agency at the workplace scale: Workers and labour control in Glasgow call centres. Environment and Planning A 2017, 49(1), 104-120.
  • Mackinnon D. Labour branching, redundancy and livelihoods: Towards a more socialised conception of adaptation in evolutionary economic geography. Geoforum 2017, 79, 70-80.
  • Cumbers A, Featherstone D, MacKinnon D, Ince A, Strauss K. Intervening in globalisation: the spatial possibilities and institutional barriers to labour's collective agency. Journal of Economic Geography 2016, 16(1), 93-108.
  • Pike A, MacKinnon D, Cumbers A, Dawley S, McMaster R. Doing evolution in economic geography. Economic Geography 2016, 92(2), 123-144.
  • Derickson KD, MacKinnon D. Toward an Interim Politics of Resourcefulness for the Anthropocene. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 2015, 105(2), 304-312.
  • Dawley S, Mackinnon D, Cumbers A, Pike A. Policy activism and regional path creation: the promotion of offshore wind in North East England and Scotland. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 2015, 8(2), 257-272.
  • MacKinnon D. Devolution, state restructuring and policy divergence in the UK. Geographical Journal 2015, 181(1), 47-56.
  • Ince A, Featherstone D, Cumbers A, MacKinnon D, Strauss K. British Jobs for British Workers? Negotiating Work, Nation, and Globalisation through the Lindsey Oil Refinery Disputes. Antipode 2015, 47(1), 139-157.
  • MacKinnon D. Strategic Coupling and Regional Development in Resource Economies: the case of the Pilbara. AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHER 2013, 44(3), 305-321.
  • MacKinnon D, Derickson KD. From resilience to resourcefulness: A critique of resilience policy and activism. Progress in Human Geography 2013, 37(2), 253-270.
  • Featherstone D, Ince A, MacKinnon D, Strauss K, Cumbers A. Progressive localism and the construction of political alternatives. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 2012, 37(2), 177-182.
  • Bryceson D, MacKinnon D. Eureka and beyond: Mining's impact on African urbanisation. Journal of Contemporary African Studies 2012, 30(4), 513-537.
  • MacKinnon D. Beyond strategic coupling: reassessing the firm-region nexus in global production networks. Journal of Economic Geography 2012, 12(1), 227-245.
  • MacKinnon D. Reconstructing scale: Towards a new scalar politics. Progress in Human Geography 2011, 35(1), 21-36.
  • Shaw J, MacKinnon D. Moving on with ‘filling in’? Some thoughts on state restructuring after devolution. Area 2011, 43(1), 23-30.
  • Birch K, MacKinnon D, Cumbers A. Old industrial regions in Europe: a comparative assessment of economic performance. Regional Studies 2010, 44(1), 35-53.
  • MacKinnon D, Shaw J. New state spaces, agency and scale: devolution and the regionalisation of transport governance in Scotland. Antipode 2010, 42, 1226-1252.
  • Cumbers A, MacKinnon D, Shaw J. Labour, organisational rescaling and the politics of production: union renewal in the privatised rail industry. Work, Employment & Society 2010, 24(1), 127-144.
  • MacKinnon D, Shaw J, Docherty I. Devolution as Process: Institutional Structures, State Personnel and Transport Policy in the United Kingdom. Space and Polity 2010, 14(3), 271-287.
  • MacKinnon D, Cumbers A, Pike A, Birch K, McMaster R. Evolution in Economic Geography: Institutions, Political Economy, and Adaptation. Economic Geography 2009, 85(2), 129-150.
  • Shaw J, MacKinnon D, Docherty I. Divergence or convergence? Devolution and transport policy in the United Kingdom. Environment and Planning C 2009, 27, 546-567.
  • Docherty I, Shaw J, Knowles R, MacKinnon D. Connecting for competitiveness: the future of transport in UK city regions. Public Policy and Management 2009, 29, 321-328.
  • MacKinnon D, Teztlaff D. Conceptualising scale in catchment science and regional studies. Geography Compass 2009, 3(3), 976-996.
  • Pike A, Birch K, Cumbers A, MacKinnon D, McMaster R. A Geographical Political Economy of Evolution in Economic Geography. Economic Geography 2009, 85(2), 175-182.
  • MacKinnon D, Cumbers A, Shaw J. Re-scaling employment relations: key outcomes of change in the privatised rail industry. Environment and Planning A 2008, 40, 1347-1369.
  • MacKinnon D. Evolution, path dependency and economic geography. Geography Compass 2008, 5, 1449-1463.
  • Phelps NA, Mackinnon D, Stone I, Braidford P. Embedding the multinationals? Institutions and the development of overseas manufacturing affiliates in Wales and North East England. REGIONAL STUDIES 2003, 37(1), 27-40.

• Authored Books

  • MacKinnon D, Cumbers A. Introduction to Economic Geography: Globalisation, Uneven Development and Place. Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2011.
  • MacKinnon D, Shaw J, Docherty I. Diverging Mobilities? Devolution, Transport and Policy Innovation. Oxford: Elsevier, 2008.

• Book Chapters

  • Dawley S, Karlsen A, Mackinnon D. Agency, skills and workforce adaptation: examining the challenge of green industrial restructuring for regional labour markets. In: Karlsen, J; Rypestøl, JO; Trippl, M, ed. Sustainable Regional Restructuring: Insights from Economic Geography and Regional Innovation Studies. Edward Elgar, 2025, pp.58-73.
  • MacKinnon D. Splintering labour markets. In: Paddison, R and Hutton, T, ed. Cities and Economic Change. London, UK: Sage, 2015, pp.93-107.
  • MacKinnon D. Resilient City. In: James D. Wright, ed. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences: Second Edition. Oxford: Elsevier, 2015, pp.561-567.
  • MacKinnon D, Cumbers A, Featherstone D. Local and Regional Economic Development in Britain. In: Green, J; Hay, C; Taylor-Gooby, P, ed. The British Growth Crisis: The Search for a New Model. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, pp.201-220.
  • Docherty I, MacKinnon D. Transport and economic development. In: The SAGE Handbook of Transport Studies. SAGE Publications Inc, 2013, pp.226-240.
  • MacKinnon D. Reinventing the State: Neoliberalism, State Transformation, and Economic Governance. In: Barnes, T.J., Peck, J. Sheppard, E, ed. The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Economic Geography. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012, pp.344-357.
  • Cumbers A, MacKinnon D. Putting 'the political' back into the region: power, agency and a reconstituted regional political economy. In: Pike, A; Rodriguez-Pose, A; Tomaney, J, ed. Handbook of Local and Regional Development. London: Routledge, 2011, pp.249-258.
  • MacKinnon D. Regional geography II. In: Kitchin, r: Thirft, N, ed. International Encyclopaedia of Human Geography. London: Elsevier, 2009, pp.228-235.
  • MacKinnon D, Pirie G, Gather M. Transport and economic development. In: Knowles, RD; Shaw, J; Docherty, I, ed. Transport Geographies: Mobilities, Flows and Spaces. Oxford: Blackwell, 2008, pp.10-28.
  • MacKinnon D, Vigar G. Devolution and the UK's new transport policy landscape. In: Docherty I; Shaw J, ed. Traffic Jam: Ten Years of 'Sustainable' Transport in the UK. Bristol: Policy Press, 2008, pp.29-48.

• Editorials

  • MacKinnon D, Beal V, Leibert T. Rethinking 'left-behind' places in a context of rising spatial inequalities and political discontent. Regional Studies 2024, 58(6), 1161-1166.
  • Featherstone D, Strauss K, MacKinnon D. In, against and beyond neo-liberalism: The “crisis” and alternative political futures. Space and Polity 2015, 19(1), 1-11.

• Online Publication

  • Pike A, Kempton L, MacKinnon D, O'Brien P, Tomaney J. Submission to HCLG Select Committee Inquiry on Progress on Devolution in England. 2019. Available at: http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/housing-communities-and-local-government-committee/progress-on-devolution-in-england/written/104700.pdf.

• Reports

  • Pike A, Coombes M, Kempton L, Mackinnon D, O'Brien P. A response to the UK2070 Commission’s Second Report by the Centre for Urban and Regional Development (CURDS). http://uk2070.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/PIKE-Final-Submission-UK2070-Commission.pdf: UK2070 Commission, 2020. UK2070 Commission Think Pieces.
  • O'Brien P, Kempton L, MacKinnon D, Pike A. Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee inquiry into 'Supporting Regional Investment and Growth': A submission by the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies. 2019. In Preparation.
  • Pike A, Lee N, MacKinnon D, Kempton L, Iddewala Y. Job Creation and Inclusive Growth in Cities. York, UK: Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2017.
  • Pike A, MacKinnon D, Coombes M, Champion T, Bradley D, Cumbers A, Robson L, Wymer C. Uneven growth: tackling city decline. York, UK, 2016. Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
  • Pike A, Mackinnon D, Coombes M, Champion T, Bradley D, Cumbers A, Robson L, Wymer C. Uneven growth: tackling city decline. York, UK: Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2016.
  • O'Brien P, Pike A, Kempton L, MacKinnon D, McCarthy A. CURDS evidence to the Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Select Committee Inquiry into the Northern Powerhouse and Midlands Engine. 2016.
  • O'Brien P, Pike A, MacKinnon D, Marlow D, Robson L. CURDS submission to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee Inquiry into the 'Fiscal Devolution to Cities and City Regions'. Newcastle upon Tyne: Centre for Urban and Rural Development (CURDS), Newcastle University, 2014.