Foreword

Recent shocks to gas and energy supply and widespread increases in costs of living are challenging people’s living standards in nearly all places in the OECD area. These shocks have put further pressure on cities and regions around the world, which, in the last few years, have been facing global megatrends and a global pandemic. Ageing, climate change and digital transformation, among others, were already challenging our economies and societies when the COVID-19 pandemic started at the beginning of 2020. All these developments have had unequal consequences within countries and the need to cope with them is increasing the demand for geographically granular evidence, indicators and statistics to support policy makers at all levels of government.