1st Edition

New Europe Imagined Spaces

By Donald McNeill Copyright 2004
    216 Pages
    by Routledge

    216 Pages
    by Routledge

    New Europe: Imagined Spaces traces the radical transformation of European places and spaces over the last two decades. Instead of the familiar 'schoolbook' map of a Europe of nation-states, the book unpacks the differing imaginations of European identity in recent years. Taking as its central problem the fluid nature of cultural and political identity, it moves firmly away from - and calls into question - the perspective of the nation-state as the primary source of imagined identity for Europeans.



    The book contributes to key debates, such as the emerging Europe of the Regions and the return of the city-state, examines the 'rebranding' of the nation-state and explores the impact of 'Europeanisation' on existing place identity. Emphasising mobility and movement, the chapters explore borderlands and travel, and also include a detailed discussion of the 'everyday life' of Europeans. Throughout, iconic images of contemporary Europe are invoked: Eurodisney, the Reichstag, Barcelona's Ramblas and the Bilbao Guggenheim, and the way in which mundane artefacts and practices such as football, walking, cars, food, passports and the Euro help construct identity is considered.



    New Europe: Imagined Spaces adopts a multidisciplinary approach to studying Europe, providing students with an exploration of contemporary European space and place identity.

    Illustrations
    Acknowledgements
    Introduction
    1 The Europeanisation of Europe
          Europe as a political project
          The invention of Europe
          Holiday driving
          Brussels as capital of Europe
          Europe and its others: America, Islam, and enlargement
          Conclusion
    2 Europe and the nation
          Representing the nation
          The national routine
          Global media flows and national identities
          Euro Disney
          Rebranding the nation
          Urban landscapes and national identity
          Europeanising the nation
          Conclusion
    3 Regional renaissance
          A Europe of the Regions?
          Why the resurgence of regional identities?
          Global or local? Regionalism as a political project
          The Bilbao Guggenheim
          Conclusion
    4 A Europe of the Cities?
          The European city: 4 approaches
          The City and the street
          Transnationalism and the European city
          Mayors and city politics
          The Vatican and Global Catholicism
          Disembedding cities: football and television
          Conclusion
    5 Travelling Europeans
          Discursive mobilities
          Corporeal travel
          Tourists
          Geographies of speed and movement
          Conclusions
    6 Borderlands and barriers
          Schengenland and Europe’s external borders
          Concepts of the border
          The Berlin Wall
          Cross-border regions
          The Channel Tunnel
          Bridges
          Conclusions
    7 Metroworld
          Europe’s metroworld
          Maspero’s ‘Roissy Express’
          Roadscapes
          Consumer landscapes
          Airports
          Conclusions
    BIBLIOGRAPHY

    Biography

    Donald McNeill is Associate Professor at the Urban Research Centre, University of Western Sydney. He is the author of Urban Change and the European Left: Tales from the New Barcelona (Routledge, 1999).

    This book tackles exactly the issues we explore!
    Dr M Kneafsey, Coventry University, UK

    An excellent 'alternative' to the traditional accounts of the european project...witty and entertaining with an appropriate account of further sources and reading. McNeill educates with humour.

    Dr R Rogerson
    University of Strathclyde

    An excellent and contemporary intercultural study - accessible to non specialists and imaginative in approach.


    Dr Morgan, Anglia Polytechnic University