Abstract
Ray Hudson, one of the founding editors of European Urban and Regional Studies, retired in 2016 from the University of Durham after a long and distinguished career. In September the journal co-organised along with the Economic Geography Research Group of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) a panel session on Ray’s contributions to the academy, to regional political economy and to pan-European research collaborations. European Urban and Regional Studies is pleased to publish revised and updated versions of these reflections as part of an issue to mark Ray’s fundamental and important contributions to the establishment of a European urban and regional political economy that has shaped the activity of this journal since its foundation over 20 years ago.
The journal is very grateful to Ray for willingly engaging in this initiative, and to those who contributed to the panel discussions as presenters and audience. We are also very grateful to James Faulconbridge and the Economic Geography Research Group of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) for co-organising the event in London in 2016. It is hoped that the reflections published here provide at least some marking of the remarkable intellectual and academic leadership contributions that Ray Hudson has made to the development of urban and regional political economy in Europe. The commitments that Ray has exhibited to understanding and challenging the uneven and complex consequences of regional change, and to cross-European solidarity and collaboration, are needed today perhaps more than ever.