Nested visions: New rationalities of space in European spatial planning

The emergence of European spatial planning is characterized by new processe s at different spatial scales that reach across national boundaries, and en compass new mega-regions, the EU as a spatial entity and a wider pan-Europe an spatial vision. In this paper we explore how a dialectical relation betw een a Europe of flows, and a Europe of places, is played out across these d ifferent processes, as new discourses of European space are being framed. T he cases of the European Spatial Development Perspective, the pan-European CEMAT process and the INTERREG IIC North Sea NorVISION Programme are analys ed, mapping out the complex and contested discursive terrain of the new Eur opean spatial planning.