The impact of research has been growing ever more important not only in its own right, but as a factor that feeds into funding decisions at both institutional and individual levels. We are therefore pleased to present a Working Paper written by the Director of PASCAL and CR&DALL, Professor Mike Osborne, in which he assesses the cumulative impact of research that assesses the cumulative effect of research that has systematically measured, mapped and analysed learning provision at urban/regional level, contributing internationally to developing learning cities over decades.

In this issue we feature 7 current papers on the theme of social capital, chosen by Fabio Sabatini (Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”):