Baltic Sea regionalism, EU geopolitics and symbolic geographies of co-operation

Abstract

This paper situates an emerging Baltic Sea regionalism within the larger geopolitical context of European integration and enlargement and focuses on the role of spatial planning and regional development policies. Increasingly, symbolic geographies and visionary planning concepts are being employed to support a notion of Baltic regional community while promoting broader “Europeanization”. Through generating positive visions of what regional co-operation can achieve, symbolic planning could be contributing to effective social, economic and environmental agenda-setting in the Baltic Sea Region. However, questions remain as to the accessibility of planning processes and imbalances between planning goals and resources available to realize them.