‘The well-behaved child between two noisy big brothers?’ – emergent practices of scalecraft within the in-between spaces of city-regionalism

The emergence of city regions reflects ongoing processes of restructuring and rescaling of nation states vis a vis attempts to secure economic growth and global competitiveness. Such spaces are often structurally and spatially privileged by the state and territorially 'deprivilege' spaces which lie outside city regions, including the 'In-between spaces of city regionalism' (ISCR). Through a focus on one example of an ISCR located in the United Kingdom – Warrington – and which sits between the Greater Manchester and Liverpool city regions – the paper provides important new insights on how ISCR actors perceive territorial and relational deprivileging in practice, and how they have overcome such challenges. This includes new territorial fixes and practices of scalecraft to create 'organizational thickness' for increasing their voice and influence, and to secure investment.