Towards a network of regions: The United States of Europe

Starting from the changing role of governments in planning (physical, environmental, economic, etc.), this paper calls attention to the drastic structural changes taking place in the regional scene after the transition towards market orientation and global competitiveness. The main focus is on European developments. In addition to économie forces, two phenomena will be highlighted, namely, the transition towards a network economy and the profound technological changes taking place at the regional and urban level Particular attention will be devoted to European spatial dynamics in a networked society. Various new geographical configurations and maps of Europe will be shown, followed by some exploratory remarks on future trends. The main message of the paper is that transport planning in Europe needs to be integrated with the emerging new economic networks. The paper ends with some policy conclusions.     

Towards a European spatial planning policy: Theoretical dilemmas and institutional implications

This article examines the emergence, the present configuration and the perspectives of a spatial planning policy at a European level in the light of the institutional and economic properties embodied in the nature of the European integration process. First, it recapitulates the main historical steps through which the idea of a European view about spatial questions has been developed as a combined result of cohesion and solidarity objectives and liberal market constraints. On the basis of these complementary and competitive principles, the article explores the conceptual identity of the emerging policy and discusses especially the reorientations of the spatial justice concept under a market integration paradigm. Finally, it presents the fundamental traits for the institutional design of the new policy, which lead to the reshaping of the traditional hierarchical, substantialist and normative profile of welfare spatial intervention towards an horizontal, procedural and pluralist model of collective spatial coordination. The article comes to the conclusion that the conceptual and institutional innovations to which the emergence of a European spatial planning policy is submitted constitute a part of a more general rearrangement in the legitimation basis of public policies in a post‐national and post‐welfare Europe. Recognition of these transformations could be seen both as a search for new forms of governance beyond the state and as a chance for rethinking traditional concepts of social theory in a time of change.     

Towards a mighty union: how to create a democratic European superpower

A strong European Union is needed today more than ever: to act as a reliable partner to the United States, Great Britain and the other great democracies; to deal with the growing threats on her southern and eastern periphery; and most pressingly of all, to deal with the euro sovereign debt crisis. In order to do so, Europeans will have to abandon the gradualist fallacy that union will be achieved in small incremental steps and learn the lesson of history that all successful mergers, such as the British and the American, have been carried out in one fell swoop at a time of extreme crisis. They will have to recognize that the road to unity took a fatal turn when the failure of the European Defence Community caused a bifurcation between politico‐military and economic integration. Today, as we face potential fiscal and economic meltdown and as the external threats to Europe mount, we have another opportunity. We can only seize it, however, if we realize that full European union, if there is to be one, will be an event, not a process. It must follow more or less the American example with a directly elected presidency, a house of representatives elected by population and a senate, which represents the former nation‐states and regions. There is no need for the United Kingdom to be part of this project, but it is essential that both unions work together for the common good. Because the existing political elites are incapable of rising to the occasion—and in many cases are actually antipathetic to it—the task must fall to a new pan‐European party: the Party of Democratic Union.     

Archaeology and Myth in Early Medieval Europe: Making the Gods of Early Ireland

THIS ARTICLE CRITICALLY EXAMINES medieval¹1 Archaeology and Palaeoecology, School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK. p.gleeson@qub.ac.uk archaeology’s relationship with myth. A surge of research examining pre-Christian belief has seen mythology, place names and folklore increasingly utilised to reconstruct mentalities and cosmologies. As a wider global phenomenon, this trend comes with pitfalls that must be addressed more systematically. This article examines these issues through early medieval Ireland, beginning with an overview of recent trends in cognate disciplines, before proceeding through case studies of Tara, Brú na Bóinne (both Co Meath), and Nenagh (Co Tipperary). Far from being relics of prehistoric cult practices, many deities populating these landscapes may have been consciously invented for political, allegorical and exegetical reasons during the medieval period. This creative process had a marked 8th-century monumental dimension, contemporary with the floruit of saga literature. This precludes such evidence being utilised to reconstruct pre-Christian cosmologies. This has broad implications for research across European medieval archaeology that would seek to access ritual, belief and religion.     

Towards Liveable Cities: Progress in the European Union Urban Environmental Agenda

The 2006 “Thematic Strategy on the Urban Environment” is the first piece of official European Union (EU) policy solely focused on the urban environment. It follows a process of several years in which the EU has tried to promote an integrated approach to urban management. During the 2005–2007 “Liveable Cities” project, reflection was given to the “Thematic Strategy”. This resulted in important critiques on the EU's approach to the urban environment. Explaining how the initial top-down approach chosen by the EU contributed to the perceived “failure” of the “Thematic Strategy”, suggestions are made for alternative approaches to the creation of liveable cities in Europe.     

Encounter with the Past: Design Work for a Postcolonial Commemoration

The bicentennial of Captain Vancouver's arrival was the occasion for a series of festivities in Vancouver during the summer of 1992. This paper analyzes the major event commissioned by the city which, contrary to most commemorations of colonial histories, focused on immigrants' experiences of arrival and encounter with local inhabitants. Writing as a member of the firm that was responsible for creating temporary architecture for this event, the author analyzes the attempt to work through notions of heteroglossia in a civic commemoration.     

Cabral and the Postcolony: Postcolonial Readings of Revolutionary Hopes

This article discusses the legacy of Amílcar Cabral. The main question it deals with is how to read Cabral today when the system that prompted the emergence of his theory, colonialism, is no longer there. The main argument of this article is, therefore, that a disjuncture exists in the ways Cabral is discussed today. Cabral was certainly a great nationalist and revolutionary, and his contribution crucial for the ways in which revolution in Africa has been apprehended. However, his theoretical contribution should be ascertained alongside the analyses of the realities his emancipatory project addressed. Basically, this article suggests a reading of Cabral's theory in the context of the practices and context his theory was addressing. For doing this, this article examines the main tenets of Cabral's theory, on nationalism, alongside the responses the Portuguese had come up with under the rubric of counter-insurgency strategies. The contribution this article tries to put forward is that critical purchase in reading Cabral today has to take into account the complexities of the anticolonial past that brought us to our postcolonial present.     

Ireland. : Economics and the Reinventing of a Nation

Ireland is experiencing a fundamental transition in its economic life, one that has affected all levels of Irish society. The transition in living conditions and personal expectations and, at another level, in Ireland's contribution to a globally interdependent world is fueled by changes taking place in the structure and performance of the Irish economy. This article looks at Ireland's economic development over time—essentially a restructuring of its economic base and international outlook—the changes evident, present conditions, and the problems encountered. It concludes by looking at the nation's future prospects and its ability to sustain what some have referred to as an "economic miracle."     

Lords and Towns in Medieval Europe: The European Historic Towns Atlas Project

Abstract

THE FIRST significant archaeological excavation within the village of Thorney, Cambridgeshire, has revealed a sequence of occupation deposits associated with the former Benedictine abbey and reflecting some 600 years of use. Thorney Abbey was surrendered at the Dissolution of the Greater Monasteries in 1539 and over successive years many of the buildings were demolished and the stone removed for re-use elsewhere. As a consequence very little is known of the abbey's layout and organisation. In the Middle Ages Thorney was surrounded by fen wetland and the excavations reported on here were located near the northern edge of the former island, slightly to the north of the abbey church and suspected location of the main abbey precinct. The long sequence of deposits offered an important insight into the changing character of fen-edge life on Thorney from the 11th century onwards. Occupation remains and a sequence of contemporary structures indicated that despite the apparently peripheral location of the site in relation to the main abbey complex, life was rarely static on the island's northern edge. It is suggested that the structures and related remains were once part of the abbey's outer court. Dissolution deposits reflected the dismantling of windows and the salvage and recycling of lead came. A re-used architectural fragment, possibly a pillar base, had been converted into a lead recycling hearth and the immediately surrounding area was covered with the remains of the leadworking as well as a large assemblage of broken, high-quality painted window glass, the end result of the lead removal. Late 16th-century structural evidence on the site has also shed light on some of the earliest secular occupation on the island following the Dissolution. A combination of the finds assemblages recovered during the work and documentary research has enabled a picture of life at medieval Thorney to be drawn for the first time. Documentary and cartographic work has also helped to understand the wider fenland context.     

Re-emerging Frontiers: Postcolonial Theory and Historical Archaeology of the Borderlands

The article considers the importance of frontier studies in historical archaeology and discusses applicability of some of the concepts deriving from postcolonial theories for a better understanding of human relationships in the frontier zones. The conditions of frontiers and borderlands are compared with the characteristics of the “Third Space” described by Homi Bhabha as a realm of negotiation, translation and remaking. It is argued that concepts developed in postcolonial theories, such as “Third Space,” “in-betweeness” or hybridity, are useful not only to address cultural and social processes in borderlands that were created by colonial empires. They are also an apt way to conceptualize relationships in frontiers that lacked colonial stigma. To illustrate this point, two different historical examples of borderlands are scrutinized in this paper: the medieval frontier region that emerged between Denmark and the Northwestern Slavic area and the creation of the colonial frontier in Northeastern America through the establishment of the Praying Indian Towns.