Territorial Cohesion, Territorialism, Territoriality, and Soft Planning: A Critical Review

Territorial cohesion is a shared EU competence, but what is territory? This paper seeks to alert planners—in particular those involved in European spatial planning—that common-sense answers do not necessarily apply: it is not a container. A view of macrospace as filled with territories-as-containers—territorialism—is nonetheless the basis for common misunderstandings about the EU, and also about European planning, now being articulated in terms of territorial cohesion. Leaving the container view behind means that control over territories—territoriality—must be negotiated, something that relational regionalism also suggests. The planning literature is beginning to absorb such views, articulating soft rather than hard forms of planning for ‘soft spaces’. Hard planning is bound to continue, but it will be embedded in new practices, including the conceptualisation of multiple visions on territory.