ABSTRACT
This volume - Between the Social and the Spatial - intended to tackle some pressing problems concerning research into the social and spatial dimensions of poverty and social exclusion. But perspectives on the possible cross-fertilisation of these research traditions differ. Some authors are convinced that the spatial dimension is inherent to every social problem (see, for instance, the chapter by Christian Kesteloot, Maarten Loopmans and Pascal De Decker). Others are more reserved and seem to be of the (more or less implicit) opinion that research into the social and the spatial should be considered as separate disciplines, while expressing, though, the need for intensified mutual fertilisation. As we have seen, most of the issues discussed in this book are directly related to the stepping stones Jan Vranken formulated in his introductory essay. The way his research career developed, shows that for him the spatial dimension is crucial to the study of poverty and social exclusion, and will, in all likelihood, become even more important in times to come.
