The desire to understand spatial entities, their dynamics, development paths and socio-cultural and political contexts has interested me for a long time.
Studying Human Geography in the University city of Münster, in Westphalia, I learned to reflect in a much more comprehensive way on the unique territorial make-up of the region of my birth: the Ruhrgebiet (or Ruhr area) – a huge polycentric urban region that evolved from the coal and steel industry, which, since the late 1950s, has undergone a major process of de- and subsequently re-industrialisation of its economic base. The industrial heritage, at least in terms of the built environment, is for the most part being carefully maintained thus giving the region its rusty, but unique charm.
Studying for one year in the mid-1990s in Sundsvall which, geographically speaking, is in the 'middle' of Sweden however opened up my eyes to a totally different kind of territorial context. Indeed the city of Sundsvall is an important 'spatial nucleus' for the area around it, but, coming from one of the most densely populated urban configurations in Europe, this proved to be a very exotic experience. After working at Nordregio for a few years now I am of course fully aware of the fact that the territorial context to be found 'up there' is the norm across much of the Nordic countries – so at least I got a kind of taste what 'rurality' or 'remoteness' (can) mean.
In my Master thesis ̶ on cross-border cooperation in the Öresund region ̶ and subsequently in my PhD thesis ̶ on spatial policy discourses on the failed attempts to establish a 'new layer of regional governance' for the Rhine-Ruhr agglomeration ̶ I returned once again to focusing on the territorial context of what can be termed 'metropolitan regions'. Taking inspiration from my participation in several INTERREG projects I had the opportunity to compare the territorial contexts and functional inter-linkages of a couple of metropolitan regions in North West Europe – and thus to further enlarge my own 'mental map'.
In recent years, primarily through my work at Nordregio, I have had the opportunity to widen this search for understanding in relation to the territorial context of other European metropolitan regions and specifically the broadly expressed desire for greater 'sustainability'.
It is clear that the current EU spatial policy agenda (notably in respect of the Baltic Sea Region) and the related institutional frameworks increasingly influence the governance practices of various kinds of spatial entities thus also offering the prospect for the emergence of new discourses on their territorial futures. This is a fascinating topic and one that I wish to investigate further in order to continue enriching my 'spatial mindset'.