Economic geography and location development
10 years business location development at the University of Augsburg
The department of business location development celebrates its tenth anniversary! In the winter semester 2009/2010, the minor subject Location Development was offered for the first time in the geography course of studies, which has been very popular among students ever since. In terms of content, application-oriented and practical lectures, project seminars and excursions are offered on topics such as local, urban and regional development, economic development, tourism, consumer behavior, place branding or labor market management. Meanwhile, this specialization has become an integral part of both the Bachelor's and Master's programs. The practical relevance and topicality of the content is also guaranteed by numerous lecturers from business and administration.
Since the beginning, the department of location development has been headed by PD Dr. Markus Hilpert. Christina Graß and Niklas Völkening are also active members of the Institute. In their research projects on regional innovation strategies, Smart Cities or inner-city retail trade, they not only cooperate closely with partners from the regional economy and municipal practice. The group also maintains an intensive exchange with the Regional Forum Swabia of the DVAG. Together with Dr. Bernhard Kräußlich and the Swabian DVAG team, they organize the annual Martin Conference in Augsburg, for example. At this specialist conference, up to 200 practitioners discuss current trends in location development, such as the benefits of intelligent technologies and artificial intelligence for municipalities or the use of social media in location marketing.
We are looking forward to the future, to many more practical projects, exciting research topics and study contents that qualify for a professional career!
department of business location development
The economic-geographical research and application at the chair is bundled in the department of location development and comprises four different focal points: In the field of retail & consumption, the team investigates new consumption styles and hybrid consumer behavior, transformations of inner-city and non-integrated business locations, strategies for revitalizing retail locations, and sustainable local supply concepts for rural areas. In the field of innovation & digitisation, current issues concerning (local) online trade, regional innovation strategies, innovation management or the economic potential of smart cities are addressed. In the field of leisure & tourism, the focus will be on brand building processes and place branding, over- and undertourism, changes in leisure and travel behaviour as well as new local recreation concepts for urban and rural areas. And in the field of business development & location management, questions are dealt with on the competitiveness and sustainability of cities and regions, on city and regional management or on the activation of regional economic development potentials.
The knowledge generated in research is applied in a large number of practical projects and is constantly being further developed. The focus is on the analysis, evaluation and development of locations. The chair cooperates very closely with a large number of municipalities, associations and private-sector partners. Students also have the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of economic geography in the subsidiary subject of location development.