Carola Rebecca Sommer

CV:

• Since 2020:   Research assistant at the Institute of Geography
• 2020:              Project employee in the office of the Nuremberg Metropolitan Region (Model Project of Spatial Planning: Vibrant Regions, MORO)
• 2018-2019:    Semester abroad at Stockholms Universitet, Sweden
• 2017-2020:    Master Studies „European Master in Territorial Development“ (M.Sc.), Leibniz University Hannover
• 2013-2017:     Bachelor Studies „Cultural Geography“ (B.A.), Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg

Paul, H., Chilla, T., Sommer, C. (2025). Economy and Border Regions – A Research Gap? Results from a Scoping Review. Journal of Borderlands Studies, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/08865655.2025.2539973

Burkert, M., Chilla, T., Sommer, C. (2025). Landscape from an Economic Perspective. In: Kühne, O., Weber, F., Berr, K., Jenal, C. (eds) Landscape Handbook. Springer International Handbooks of Human Geography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-83147-8_89

Sommer, C., Chilla, T., Birnbaum, L., & Kröner, S. (2025). Digital social innovations in rural areas–process tracing and mapping critical junctures. Journal of
Rural Studies, 114, 103510, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103510 

Burkert, M., Chilla, T., Wilhelm, C. (2024). Landschaft aus ökonomischer Perspektive. In: Kühne, O., Weber, F., Berr, K., Jenal, C. (eds) Handbuch Landschaft. RaumFragen: Stadt – Region – Landschaft. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-42136-6_87

Wilhelm, C. & Chilla, T. (2023): The regional dimension in GPN -Mapping value creation and governance of the Bavarian beer sector. In: Geoforum, 145, 103828. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2023.103828

Birnbaum, L.; Wilhelm, C.; Chilla, T.; Kröner, S. (2021): Place attachment and digitalisation in rural regions. In: Journal of Rural Studies 87, S. 189–198. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2021.09.015

Bertram, D.; Chilla, T.; Wilhelm, C. (2021): Short Value Chains in Food Production: The Role of Spatial Proximity for Economic and Land Use Dynamics. Land 10 (979). Online: https://doi.org/10.3390/land10090979

Ehlers, A.; Wilhelm, C.; Vreda, D. (2019): Make Exarcheia’s Housing Affordable Again. In: Othengrafen, F.; Serraos, K. (Eds.): Urban Resilience, Changing Economy and Social Trends. Coping with socio-economic consequences of the crisis in Athens, Greece. Hannover : Leibniz Universität Hannover, Institut für Umweltplanung, 2019, S. 121-134. Online: https://doi.org/10.15488/5579 

Research Focus: My research activities centre around regional economic geographies and rural development. Sectors include (regional) food production & value creation, rural demographic development, digitalisation, culture, rural accessibility, and others. Methods include value creation, governance, network and geospatial analyses. 

PhD project:My PhD related research deals with the positioning of regional production networks in a globalised economy. Drawing from  the debates on Global Production Networks (GPNs), I explore two regional sectors (Bavarian beer, Alpine wool) with regard to their horizontal and vertical interactions with both, small firms and Transnational Corporations (TNCs), institutional frameworks, and collective agents. This includes the questions of power, regional economic resilience and embeddedness. 

Current Projects:

• ‘Krux – Culture in rural areas between endogenous and exogenous factors’ (2023-2026, Funding: Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture)
• ‘Regional value creation in border regions on the example of the food industry‘ (2024-2026, Funding: German Research Foundation)

 Completed Projects:

• ‘HeiDi – Heimat digital. Digital forms of place attachment’ (2020-2023, Funding: Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture)
• ‘ReProLa – Regional product-specific land management in urban-rural partnerships using the example of the European Metropolitan Region of Nuremberg’ (2018-2023, Funding: Federal Ministry of Education and Research)
• ‘Study on the regional added value of orchard products in Bavaria’ (2021, on behalf of Bavarian State Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Forestry)
• ‘Graduate survey on educational migration decisions’ (2022, on behalf of the District office Hassberge)