 Regional Planning and the Mobilization of 'Regional Identity': From Bounded Spaces to Relational ComplexityAnssi Paasi Regional Studies, 2013, vol. 47, issue 8, 1206-1219 Abstract: Paasi A. Regional planning and the mobilization of 'regional identity': from bounded spaces to relational complexity, Regional Studies . Regional identity refers to the uniqueness of regions and/or to the identification of people with them. Having gained currency in planning and policy circles, the concept is increasingly related to regional competitiveness. Yet, it is unclear how regional identity is understood in planning terms. This paper suggests that this discursive ambiguousness derives from the fuzzy boundary between analysis and practice as well as from the context-bound character of identity discourse. A contextual geo-historical analysis is offered of the emergence of regional identity discourse in Finnish provinces. This provides a background for a study of how regional identity discourse is mobilized in strategic regional/provincial plans and how planners understand this term. These analyses show that the historical discourse on regional identity is at variance with the instrumental, visionary discourse of plans. Planners have diverging views on the roles of regional identity which also differ from the visionary views present in the plans. Date: 2013 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:regstd:v:47:y:2013:i:8:p:1206-1219 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2012.661410 Access Statistics for this article Regional Studies is currently edited by Ivan Turok More articles in Regional Studies from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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