Contemporary regionalism and The Scandinavian 8 Million City: spatial logics in contemporary region-building processes

Figures & data

Table 1. Dominant spatial logics in contemporary regionalism.

Spatial logic	Dominant ideas	What kind of regionalism?
1. Economic and territorial competitiveness (economic)	This logic is mainly driven by economic interests closely connected to globalization and the internationalization of the market Increasing speed of rescaling processes to fit the market Regions and other places as ‘competitors’, favouring the development of the most ‘competitive’ spaces	New regionalism and Regionalism 2.0
2. Imaginaries on large-scale urban regions (scale)	This logic mainly builds on ideals on large-scale urban areas as the ‘best fit’ to compete on an international market City-regions and other large-scale areas are treated as growth engines favouring functional regions, city-regionalism, megaregions and the development of soft spaces with vague borders	Regionalism 2.0
3. Managerial forms of regional policy and planning (political)	This logic is mainly political and concerns regional image and identity-building. ‘Local boosterism’ is the growth of new territorial forms of networked governance, i.e., public–private partnerships and new public management. This logic is both economically and identity driven and bears traces of both old and new regionalism	Old and new regionalism

Figure 1. Map of the proposed Scandinavian 8 Million City and its 10 administrative regions.

Source: The Scandinavian 8 Million City (2013).

Table 2. Spatial logics in The Scandinavian 8 Million City project.

Spatial logic	Dominant ideas	What kind of regionalism?
1. Territorial competitiveness (economic)	Mainly driven by economic interests: competitiveness is treated as both a challenge and a potential for regional economic development and growth Increased competitiveness and globalization are used as arguments to do x. Here, in terms of building a high-speed railway and to create an enlarged labour market ‘Soft (city) regional spaces’ as ideal competitive spaces that can stimulate economic growth and competitiveness	New regionalism and Regionalism 2.0
2. Imaginaries on large-scale urban regions (scale)	Megaregions and global city-regions as the ideal ‘territorial fix’ Best practices from regions building on polycentrism, networked and functional regions with vague borders (e.g., Silicon Valley) European Union narratives (e.g., the trans-European Transport Network – TEN-T – strategy and European Spatial Development Perspective – ESDP) to frame the region-building process	New regionalism and Regionalism 2.0
3. Managerial forms of regional policy and planning (political)	Networked forms of governance through public–private partnerships Consensus based Image-building as part of the regional imaginary	New regionalism and Regionalism 2.0

Figure 2. Image over COINCO North – The corridor of innovation and cooperation.

Source: COINCO North, 2012 (www.coinconorth.com).

The Scandinavian 8 Million City. (2013). Hurtige tog får arbejdsmarket til at vokse. Regional udvikling: tilgaenglighed og arbejdsmarked i The Scandinavian 8 Million City. Retrieved from www.8millioncity.com

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