This episode examines the challenge for policymakers at all levels – European, national, regional and local – of addressing European citizens’ concerns that they and their communities may not benefit from economic, social and technological change. We look at this question from various perspectives with guests including Lars Katzmarek, a German policymaker and rapper chronicling the challenges facing his home state of Brandenburg; researchers James Scott and Žarko Šunderić, both participants in research projects looking at the concept of leftbehindedness from different angles; and Judit Carreras, director of Spain’s Just Transition Institute, who shares with us her country’s pioneering work to ensure that policymaking for the future leaves no-one in the past.