Followers of this blog might wonder why I seem to have dropped out of sight. Well, in a way I have, but for reasons having to do with this blog. Some time ago, a close colleague at the Department of Urbanism at TU Delft, Roberto Rocco, had proposed to collect the blogs into an Ebook to be published by same TU Delft. I had set this aside first but, observing some other publications of this kind in the making – and considering that such publication channels may gain a more prominent role in future academic publishing – the idea grew on me.
Well, the long and the short of it is that, meanwhile – and with active assistance of Roberto as the co-editor – there is a book in under consideration by TU Delft as the intended publisher. Its main title is: ‘Chasing Territorialism’, with ‘Book of Blogs’ as the intended subtitle.
Titles are important. We as the editors have of course giving due consideration to it. Yes, the ambiguity inherent to the term ‘Chasing’ is deliberate. One chases a treasure, a picture, maybe a potential partner. Is this the sense in which we talk about ‘Chasing Territorialism’? Or is it rather in the sense of chasing it away, of exculpating it. Territorialism after all invites nationalism and populism! For readers and followers of this blogs, asking the question may be tantamount to answering it: Yes, the book chases territorialism for precisely this reason, but without the illusion of being able to chase it away. Territorialism will stay with us. The only hope is that, recognizing that this is so, we can tame it.
Editing the texts meant re-visiting each blog, touching up the text where needed and, most importantly, arrange the texts into chapters, with an new introduction to each. See here the structure that has emerged:
– Foreword
– Introduction
– The Future of European Spatial Planning
– Borders
– COVID-19 Closures
– Souvereignism
– Territorialism
– Neomedievalism
– The Western Balkans
– Literature
– Appendix
As a section, ‘The Western Balkans’ sticks out in that it refers to a – problematic – part of Europe, the main issue being its accession to the EU, promised as it has been longer ago than one cares to remember.geographic area. The reason for singling it out is that, as explained in one of my earlier blogs, an all-too-short visit to Tirana gave me the opportunity to reconnect with a part of Europe that as a young person I had been somewhat familiar with as a young person and which seemed to provide object lessons of territorialism at work.
The ‘Appendix’ collects the blogs where I have referred to, and sometimes commented on, the reviews of ‘The Poverty of Territorialism’.
Obviously, readers of this blog will be apprised at the earliest opportunity of the completion of the book with the appropriate link to it. As always, comments will be welcome!