Abstract:This paper investigates the first ever so called 'macro-regional strategy' developed

The purpose of this article is to contribute to the understanding of how spatial entities in general — and those spatial entities that are defined as ‘regions’ in particular — form, evolve and sometimes stabilize. Inspired by the scholarship of Noortje Marres, the article explores how regions‐in‐becoming may be gainfully conceptualized as publics‐in‐stabilization. In the article it is argued that some of the mechanisms involved in such processes pertain to how territorially framed issues sometimes become formulated as loosely articulated propositions for regionalization. These can, with time, generate emergent stakeholder communities, which in turn may become stabilized and delegated to more durable forms and materials which can eventually become naturalized as recognized regions. A suggested conceptual model is utilized to perform an analysis of empirical material from three contemporary processes of regionalization in Northern Europe with the purpose of examining and discussing some of the potential merits and shortcomings of the conceptual model. It is concluded that adopting the proposed perspective can enable scholars to highlight some of the mechanisms whereby vague and non‐coherent propositions for regionalization within time may be singularized and stabilized to such a degree that they become taken for granted as naturalized spatialities.

The purpose of this article is to offer a rationale for bringing art and artists into the planning process. Although there appears to exist a nascent interest in planner-artist collaborations in contemporary planning practice and research, accounts of such collaborations in planning literature are generally patchy and often under-theorized. In this article I argue that art and artist-led activities can function as a powerful vehicle of communication in the planning process. The unique potential of planner-artist collaborations is based on the artistic license that grants the artist a mandate to set the stage for an estrangement of that which is familiar and taken-for-granted, thus shifting frames of references and creating a radical potential for planning in a way that can be very difficult for planners to achieve on their own.

Foregrounding the region. Regional Studies. This paper scrutinizes the everlasting but transforming significance of the concept of region for regional studies and social practice. After tracing the changing meanings of this category, it highlights one characteristic aspect of the progress of the academic conceptualizations of the region: recurrent iterations of critiques regarding various forms of essentialism and fetishism. The main focus then moves to the conceptualization of the region and the articulation of ideas about what regions substantially 'are' and 'do', and what makes the region a worthy object of attention (scholarly or otherwise). The paper concludes with a discussion about the implications of the perspective on regions developed in the article for the future of regional studies. RÉSUMÉMise en valeur de la région. Regional Studies. La présente communication examine de près la signification perpétuelle, mais en évolution, du concept de la région pour les études régionales et les pratiques sociales. Après avoir relevé les significations changeantes de cette catégorie, elle met en lumière un aspect caractéristique de l'évolution de la conceptualisation académique de la région: des itérations récurrentes de critiques concernant différentes formes d'essentialisme et de fétichisme. La communication se concentre ensuite principalement sur la conceptualisation de la région et l'articulation d'idées sur ce que «sont» et ce que «font» substantiellement les régions, et ce qui fait de la région un sujet digne de cette attention (académique ou autre). La communication se termine par une discussion sur les implications de la perspective sur des régions développées dans l'article sur l'avenir des études régionales. MOTS-CLÉS RESUMENLa región en primer plano. Regional Studies. En este artículo realizamos un escrutinio del significado sempiterno pero en transformación del concepto de la región para los estudios regionales y la práctica social. Después de hacer un seguimiento de los significados cambiantes de esta categoría, destacamos un aspecto característico del progreso de las conceptualizaciones académicas de la región: iteraciones recurrentes de críticas con respecto a las diferentes formas de esencialismo y fetichismo. Después trasladamos el principal enfoque a la conceptualización de la región y la articulación de ideas sobre qué 'son' y 'hacen' básicamente las regiones, y lo que hace que la región sea digna de atención especial (académica o cualquier otra). Concluimos el artículo con un debate sobre las repercusiones de la perspectiva de las regiones desarrollada en el artículo para el futuro de los estudios regionales. PALABRAS CLAVESregión; conceptualización; en primer plano; fetichismo espacial JEL R5 HISTORY

Abstract:This paper is an investigation into processes of becoming-stakeholder. It specifically focuses on strategic spatial planning where the stakeholder concept has become one of the linchpins of much contemporary theory and practice. Through drawing upon the sociology of attachments and scholarship on subjectification it is argued that the enactment of stakeholders in strategic planning processes can be gainfully understood as the production of stakeholder subjectivities by way of practices of ontological choreography which can generate territorial attachments and re-articulate existing attachments into a specifically territorial format. From this perspective, stakeholderness is never an ontologically pre-given property that is to be uncovered by diligent analysis. Rather, we might come to see that stakeholder subjectification is a process through which actors learn to be affected, and where these affections further come to be articulated as territorial attachments engendering or at least prompting a 'caring for place'. Still, as relational effects, subjectivities are always potentially precarious achievements and it is important not to take for granted that the subjectivities enacted in a specific situation or setting will be easily transposable to other contexts.