Vision Of Territory Research Articles

The Elusive Borders of Regional Feeling: Re-Imagining the Federalist Map in Early West Germany

While a rich body of work on nations and national borderlands has demonstrated how the ideal of the nation state resulted in ever greater (and often violent) demands for geographic fixity, this article shows how territorial visions of regional communities permitted a tremendous level of flexibility and were able to hold highly divergent geographic imaginings in suspension. The article seeks to demonstrate this by looking at a unique moment in post-war West German history when spatial planers, parliamentary committees, regionalists and an army of experts sought to determine the boundaries of regional belonging in preparation for a planned redrawing of the West German federal map. Many believed that a viable federalist democracy required stronger federal states rooted in a sense of regional community. The states created by the Allies were initially seen as temporary, and Article 29 of the new constitution required that states be redrawn by considering boundaries of regional belonging. The intense efforts of experts, politicians, and regionalists, however, ultimately failed and revealed widely diverging ideas about which territories corresponded to a common sense of regional community. Conflicting historic state borders, the historic force of physical geographies, confession, orientation to urban centres, a profusion of dialect borders, and regional cultural practices all shaped geographic visions of region, but simultaneously underpinned widely-variant cognitive maps. While the failure to redraw the West German map resulted in this episode of history largely being forgotten, I argue that it speaks volumes about how forms of community beyond and beneath the nation state have been imagined in territorial space.

The Cross-border Regions of Latin America: Incomplete or Peculiar?

ABSTRACT This article discusses the nature and structuring factors of cross-border regions in Latin America, from their contradictory interactions in the fervor of history, scales and the sociological realities of the region. From this perspective, the article briefly reviews the specific contexts in which these processes take place within the continent, in contrast to cross-border regionalization processes in other parts of the world. It then discusses the specific context of Latin America based on the overriding everyday factors, which it illustrates by weighing up two cases located on the borders of Peru and Chile and Brazil and Bolivia. Finally, it discuss certain heuristic challenges of these studies, such as the growing role of women in border processes, as well as the presence of indigenous peoples with their specific territorial visions.

The Design of Tourism Policies Adjusted to High Potential Destinations: A Methodology for the Creation of a Green Paper Inspired by the Cávado and the Ave (Portugal)

Public policies regarding the development of sustainable tourism continue to evolve within the European Union. With the changes in tourist trends post-COVID-19, some destinations have initiated certain processes of tourism expansion. These processes must be accompanied by tourism policies tailored to their specific territories. This necessitates a more territorial vision that is aligned with the needs of the local population and in harmony with the four dimensions of sustainability (economic, social, environmental, and institutional). The present research is inspired by the increase in tourist arrivals, observed in the promising destination of the Northern Region of Portugal since 2015, to present a theoretical proposal that has the participation of the local population of tourist destinations, through a literature review, on-site observations and interviews with local agents. The objective is to propose and develop a methodology based on the technique of a Green Paper, a tool for collective intelligence and a preliminary step for the analysis and creation of tourism policies. It is expected to increase confidence in the institutions that manage tourism activity, sustainable reactivation of the economy, resident satisfaction, empowerment and stronger links between local actors and the administration of the destinations. Keywords: green paper, tourism policies, governance, local participation, sustainable tourism, fourth dimension of sustainability, high potential destinations

A Great and Rising Nation: Naval Exploration and Global Empire in the Early US Republic by Michael A. Verney (review)

Reviewed by: A Great and Rising Nation: Naval Exploration and Global Empire in the Early US Republic by Michael A. Verney Heesoo Cho (bio) Keywords Early republic, U.S. exploration, U.S. Navy; Imperialism, U.S. Empire, Maritime history A Great and Rising Nation: Naval Exploration and Global Empire in the Early US Republic. By Michael A. Verney. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2022. Pp. 300. Paper, $35.00.) Michael Verney's book recovers nineteenth-century U.S. imperialization through six naval explorations between 1816 and 1853. Imperialization was not an uncommon process to many Americans in this period who observed and practiced it in the western lands of North America and the cotton fields of the South. Overseas imperialism, however, had different overtones. Naval exploration had long been considered a "European strategy for global imperialism" (4) that was at odds with the republican values that Americans held dear to their hearts. Verney argues that the gradual embracement of naval exploration as an instrument of U.S. global imperialism is "a story about coalition building" (5) among white capitalists, evangelicals, slaveholders, and the middle class. By moving chronologically through the first half of the nineteenth century, Verney successfully shows how each group aligned their private interests with the scientific, commercial, and religious advancement of the nation and thereby contributed to the process of creating a global U.S. empire rooted in white supremacy. Verney's book joins a growing body of scholarship that explores U.S. expansion and identity formation in the seafaring world. Work over the last decade includes Paul A. Gilje, Free Trade and Sailors' Rights in the War of 1812 (New York, 2013); Brian Rouleau, With Sails Whitening [End Page 342] Every Sea: Mariners and the Making of An American Maritime Empire (Ithaca, NY, 2014); Dane Morrison, True Yankees: The South Seas and the Discovery of American Identity (Baltimore, 2014); Nathan Perl-Rosenthal, Citizen Sailors: Becoming American in the Age of Revolution (Cambridge, MA, 2015); Jason W. Smith, To Master the Boundless Sea: The U.S. Navy, the Marine Environment, and the Cartography of Empire (Chapel Hill, NC, 2018). Primarily driven by maritime scholars, this scholarship shifts our attention from territorial visions of empire contained to the land mass of North America to overseas places where empire assumes many shapes. Sailors' social and cultural lives have been conducive to understanding the encounters between Americans and foreign populations, from which ideas about racial and ethnic differences developed. By centering this story in naval exploration, Verney demonstrates how overseas expansion was also a state enterprise that took place in the halls of Congress. The global U.S. empire that developed as a result was not a product of a separate maritime world but one deeply connected to continental concerns. In this sense, Verney also joins historians such as Kariann Akemi Yokota, Emily Conroy-Krutz, and Dael Norwood, among others, who situate the history of the early republic in a global context, in which global is not an antithesis to national but an extension. Empire is both a given and a process in this book. Verney defines empire in its broadest sense, "as a field of cultural domination or spatial governance where power, knowledge, and/or access to resources is structured hierarchically" (9). This capacious definition allows him to find evidence of empire in pursuits of knowledge and commerce, practices of religion and diplomacy, and the expansion of slavery. It also takes us to the Pacific islands, South America, the Dead Sea, and the Arctic, all subjected to European imperialism at varying times. At these places, Americans practiced their own visions of empire based on white supremacy. For instance, the South Sea Expedition of 1838–1842 (referred to as the "Ex Ex" by contemporaries) promoted overseas capitalism to increase opportunities at home for white laborers. Masculinity and gentility were at the center of the Arctic missions between 1850 and 1855 to rescue Sir John Franklin and his crew. From a conventional definition of empire that focuses on territorial acquisition and commercial exploitation, many of these U.S. naval explorations were a failure. The expeditions to the Amazon Valley and Rio de la Plata between 1850 and 1860 failed to integrate...

Drones, communities and nature: pitfalls and possibilities for conservation and territorial rights

Since the early 2010s, small drones have become key tools for environmental research around the globe. While critical voices have highlighted the threat of ‘green securitisation’ and surveillance in contexts where drones are deployed for nature conservation, Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) worldwide have also begun using drones – most often in alliance with non-governmental organisations or researchers – exploring this technology’s potential to advance their own territorial, political and socio-ecological goals. Against this backdrop, this paper examines six different experiences in five countries where communities are using small drones in areas of high ecological and cultural diversity with international significance for nature conservation. We highlight the ways that communities deploy drones – both in terms of their motivations and actual use strategies. We also reflect upon the opportunities and barriers that IPLCs and their collaborators encounter in designing and implementing meaningful drone strategies, explicitly considering social, economic and political challenges. Finally, we consider the socio-ecological outcomes that community drone use enables across these sites along with the ways that drones engender more biocultural and territorial approaches to conservation through IPLC-led monitoring and mapping efforts. In conclusion, we suggest that effective, meaningful and appropriate deployment of drones, especially with IPLCs as protagonists in their use, can support nature conservation together with the recognition and protection of biocultural and territorial rights. Given the mounting demands for conservation to counter intertwined global socio-environmental crises, community drones may play a role in amplifying the voices and territorial visions of IPLCs.

Le Grand Genève neutre en carbone – une vision territoriale transfrontalière pour l’horizon 2050

The Greater Geneva partners have launched a large-scale exploratory project, the Vision territoriale transfrontalière 2050 (Cross-border Territorial Vision 2050). With this approach, they want to find out under which conditions the Greater Geneva area, a living space of one million inhabitants with ongoing demographic growth, can redirect its spatial planning in order to contribute to achieving the objectives of the ecological transition in the broadest sense, while respecting planetary boundaries and social cohesion.At the time of writing, the process is at the halfway point. The article describes the status of the work, the reasons for and origins of the project, its ambitions, working method and first results. Based on this overview, an encouraging interim assessment can be made. Four major converging themes have emerged and the contours of the spatial concept are taking shape. However, this assessment also reveals the complexity of the issue and the obstacles and contradictions to be overcome. Whatever the outcome, one thing is clear: the energy and commitment of all the parties involved are impressive and encourage us to continue along the path we have embarked upon.Carbon-neutral Greater Geneva - a cross-border territorial vision for 2050

A collaborative and multidisciplinary approach to knowledge-based rural development: 25 years of the PSDR program in France

The uneven rural development and the investigation of the place of rural areas in the modern knowledge-based economy raise an important question. How can we foster knowledge emergence and dissemination in peripheral areas that are often considered less innovative due to their remoteness and weak technological creativity? This paper aims to present the contributions of the French PSDR program to rural knowledge creation and dissemination in France based on a comprehensive and synthetic analysis of its participatory research projects. We identify five key components of the knowledge-related PSDR approaches which have significantly contributed to rural innovation in France linked to (1) the governance of agricultural lands, (2) the territorial attractiveness and well-being, (3) the agroecological transition in the territories, (4) the territorialized food systems, as well as (5) the bioeconomy and circular economy. We emphasize the need to combine technological, organizational, and territorial innovation and involve local partners in the design and elaboration of research programs. Rural areas can thus produce new knowledge beneficial to local communities and transferable to other sectors or territories. Finally, we suggest a comprehensive territorial vision for knowledge-based rural development and discuss the importance of a national multidisciplinary and participatory research program.

The empire of the narrative: Plan making through the prism of classical and postclassical narratologies.

This article theorizes the "narrative turn" in urban planning studies, using Gérard Genette's work to differentiate first- and second-degree narratives. Genette defines the latter as paratexts that determine the public's reception of the former. The article assesses how second-degree narratives work with different perceptual regimes to construct the reception of the political vision of territory. To that end, it resorts to the recent work of postclassical narratology. Indeed, the latter is particularly interested in the way in which the narrative, in various forms, affects its addressee. Postclassical narratology allows us to renew the theory of narrative in urban planning by focusing on what hypothetically happens in the consciousness of the receiver of the narrative when he or she becomes aware of it. Consequently, the paper sheds light on an emerging aspect of the design process: disambiguating signals embedded in urban planning documents intended for a wider public.

The Frontier Complex: Geopolitics and the Making of the India-China Border, 1846–1962 by Kyle J. Gardner

Reviewed by: The Frontier Complex: Geopolitics and the Making of the India-China Border, 1846–1962 by Kyle J. Gardner Benjamin Holt The Frontier Complex: Geopolitics and the Making of the India-China Border, 1846–1962. By Kyle J. Gardner. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021. xxi + 280 pp. ISBN 978-1-108-84059-0. $99.00 (hardcover). A central aim of Kyle Gardner's The Frontier Complex is to demonstrate how colonial border-making shaped ideas about territory that created legacies still felt in contemporary Asia (p. xvi). Supplementary ambitions are to bring Ladakh into greater focus within histories of South Asia (p. 20) and amalgamate top-down narratives of border-making with ground-level experiences. The book delivers on these aims. To do so, Gardner traces the history of the frontier to reveal how colonial concerns with geography and security created the foundation for the postcolonial borderland. Thus, the book rejects the stasis of borders in favor of an in-depth temporal analysis of developments in the northwest Himalaya, with primary focus on Ladakh. A core argument made by Gardner is that the creation of a borderland is not merely a routine exercise in map-making. Rather, the process is critical for understanding ways that "geography, politics, and power" are understood (p. 2). When this historical process is recognized, notable insights follow. For instance, Gardner is particularly keen to stress the ramifications of the "new, geopolitical way of seeing space" that dominated British thinking from the late nineteenth century (p. 184). The focus on security was propelled by colonial anxieties and this—alongside the inability to properly demarcate a clear boundary—produced lasting effects. This conundrum proved to be a key factor behind the Sino-Indian war of 1962, the temporal endpoint of the book. [End Page 532] The notion of the "frontier complex"—that is the various practices used by colonial officials, from surveys and mapping, to construction, information, and regulation (p. 21)—provides the framework for analysis. The first chapter covers the diverse ways the region was "seen" before the British arrival, suggesting that "Ladakh" was—in a sense—a colonial construct. The second then suggests the colonial state developed both natural and political understandings of the region but failed to construct a "scientific frontier" regardless.1 This desire to politicize geography is a continuing theme in chapters three and four as roadbuilding and colonial texts take centre stage. The former was a conduit of imperial security; the latter reflected the colonial vision of territory. Chapters five and six then delve into the rise of geopolitical thought from the 1880s, as colonial anxieties clashed with previous ideas about exploration and commercialization. The final chapter then confronts the postcolonial legacies of the frontier complex. A key strength of The Frontier Complex is its advancement beyond top-down narratives of border-making to continually examine groundlevel interactions with colonial visions of space. For instance, chapter four provides a compelling overview about how lopchak and chaba—essentially tributes paid between Ladakh and Lhasa—proved problematic for colonial governance and prestige (pp. 158–165). This approach is made possible by a rich and diverse source base. The only issue this reviewer would highlight relates to the 1962 war. Considering how heavily it weighs upon the book, the immediate prelude to war is mostly overlooked (pp. 248–250). A more concerted explanation for the midand short- term dynamics could be provided, narrated alongside the longer-term structural factors that Gardner's book reveals. This would help to recalibrate traditional narratives of the conflict, providing more convincing context for the diplomatic failures leading to 1962, of which Gardner is critical (p. 61). Despite this relatively minor area of contention, The Frontier Complex is a richly researched work that provides significant insight for several fields. This is clearest for borderlands studies and adds to a growing repertoire of historically focused analyses in recent years.2 [End Page 533] Viewing borders as something more than "hard territorial lines" is a clear point of departure for the subfield, but Gardner's book reinforces the benefits of understanding the temporal development of the borderland to reveal how spaces are conditioned by the changing interests of associated polities...

EDUCATION CHARTERS: INSTRUMENTS OF WHAT?

This article is the second in a line of research entitled "Instruments for territorial management", which seeks to analyse the use and valuation, by municipalities, of instruments such as the Municipal Master Plan (MP), the Educational Charter (EC), the Municipal Civil Protection Plans and also the identification of existing participation instruments in the different municipalities. In the present case, we seek to know practices and perceptions about the Educational Charter through the analysis of 44 Educational Charters and by conducting interviews with municipal representatives about this instrument for territorial management. The data collected indicate that, despite the explanation about the importance of this document, it is, in many municipalities, completely out of date and, probably, of no use. There seems to be, currently, a perspective that it should contemplate other educational dynamics than those of formal education and that it is essential to contemplate its connection to other territorial management instruments in the sense of an effective implementation of municipal educational policies considering an integrated territorial vision.

A Model to Support Sustainable Resource Management in the “Etna River Valleys” Biosphere Reserve: The Dominance-Based Rough Set Approach

For several decades, studies and conventions have highlighted the importance of the ecosystem services provided by natural resources and biodiversity for humanity and the need to move their management towards a sustainable model. Inthe United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2015), among its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there isalsoSDG 15, “Life on Land”, specifically dedicated to biodiversity, forests and desertification. The aim is to “sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, and halt the loss of bio-diversity”. The UNESCO “MAB—Man and Biosphere” Programme could achieve this goal by establishing Biosphere Reserves (BRs). Among them, the establishment of the BR “Etna river valleys” is an opportunity to adopt sustainable development models in the “Etna Park system” (UNESCO site since 2013) for the regeneration of virtuous relationships between cities and rural areas and the promotion of the conservation of natural resources and biodiversity through strategies of territorial enhancement with a multifunctional vision of agriculture and territory. This research aims to provide, through the methodology of “Rough Sets”, a useful tool to support the strategic choices that stakeholders will be called upon to make for the management of the complex environmental, cultural and economic mosaic that characterises the BR “Etna river valleys”.The results show both weaknesses and strengths in the transition towards a sustainable land management model, which will nonethelesshave to be supported and accompanied by information and financial support.

Mining indigenous territories: Consensus, tensions and ambivalences in the Salar de Atacama

Lithium mining in Chile's Salar de Atacama (SdA) has a relatively long and controversial history, especially when it comes to the local Indigenous peoples. In this context, this paper looks at the ways mining activities, and different visions of territory and indigeneity co-produce each other in the particular context of the SdA. For this, we use historical and ethnographic methods and draw on studies in anthropology and geography. We aim to escape simplistic images of Indigenous peoples’ reactions to mining as reflecting victimhood, resistance, or strategic pragmatism, and show instead how individuals and groups organize and express themselves in ambivalent ways, maintaining complex relationships with both mining and the territory. According to our local interlocutors, struggles around territory in the SdA mainly concern water scarcity, the survival of this unique ecosystem's biological diversity, as well as continuity and change in local lifeways. While recent agreements between mining companies and local communities may benefit some individuals, they are also generating inter- and intra- community tensions over these issues. We find that mining shapes what 'indigenous' means and who can claim this identity, while Indigenous mobilization in turn shapes how mining is perceived and carried out. Together, mining and Indigenous mobilization produce a particular kind of territory, pervaded by diverse lines of both consensus and tension. Rather than contradictions, the ambivalent positions Indigenous peoples maintain become comprehensible when considering, ethnographically and historically, the particular places and lifeworlds they inhabit, and the asymmetrical patterns of constraint and opportunity they face. More broadly, the paper raises questions about the implications of a global transition to renewable energy based on lithium battery technologies, and ethical responses to the climate crisis.

RURAL DEPOPULATION IN SPAIN: NEXT GENERATION EU AS A STIMULUS TO ACCELERATE THE TRANSFORMATION

The main objective of this study was to examine the situation of depopulation in Spain. Also, to highlight the importance of digital transformation and the funds provided through the Next Generation EU (NGEU) to fight against this phenomenon. Based on data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), an empirical investigation about the current state of population abandonment in Spain has been carried out. Moreover, the Digitization Index (DiGiX) has been used to obtain a territorial vision about the digitization degree of the Autonomous Communities (CCAA). Finally, the estimates of the Spanish executive set out in the National Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (RTRP) have been used to underline the importance of Next Generation EU resources to fight the problem of ‘empty Spain’. That was to see that mentioned country is currently at the head of the ‘demographic deserts’ of the EU. Likewise, the Recovery Plan for Europe, and its digital axe, constitute one of the key factors to combat the population abandonment of the Spanish rural areas. In other words, an important approach, which addresses the wide deficiencies in the literature on the subject, is making this research highly relevant and interesting.

El líder de la élite neopentecostal costarricence Rony Chaves y su discurso geoestratégico

Since the 80s-decade, Costa Rica, like many other countries of the American continent has been experiencing exponential growth of the neo-pentecostalism movement. Therewith, this paper, derived from research, makes a mapping of the neo-pentecostal elites of Costa Rica, and an analysis of the political-religious speech of the neo-pentecostal movement, aiming to understand the geographic imaginary and geostrategic approach of neo-pentescostal elites of Costa Rica. This is a contribution to the study of neo-pentecostalism in the American continent. The paper’s methods analyse the neo-pentecostal approach as a global geopolitical invasion strategy. With that, there was the interest of studying the national speech of neo-pentecostalism as a way of identifying the territorial vision and the means of the political-religious organization. As a result, having the precise date of an incursion of neo-pentecostalism in Costa Rica is difficult, however, the clearest manifestations in Costa Rica are seen in the early ’80s. It is proven that the geographic expression of neo-pentecostalism power is through mega-churches in the city (GAM), and from there they expand to other areas of the country through its branch churches. It was noted that neo-pentecostal elites share the same imaginary as neo-pentecostal transnational elites, there is where its necessity to expand to a regional and global scale arises, therewith to speak of neo-pentecostalism is to speak about a transnational geographic expression, and not about borders.

Maintenance Management of Infrastructure Systems: Organizational Factors in Territorial Planning

The issue of the maintenance of the infrastructure systems (e.g., viaducts, roads, bridges and highways), built some decades ago, is increasingly becoming a central argument. Within this topic, the safety assessment represents a fundamental as well as basic analysis that underpins a sustainable territorial management of the infrastructure systems. In fact, many structures are often affected by functionality, aging or safety problems and need specific interventions to avoid undesirable impacts in terms of social implications. In addition, the reference stakeholders, in terms of institutions and public actors, play an important role in relation to both the administrative and economic planning procedures. The present study has the preliminary aim to illustrate some possible contributions and improvements to achieve a more sustainable territorial planning, especially for the maintenance of the infrastructure systems. In detail, the present preliminary investigation highlights the possible advantages deriving from the use of the technology (i.e., remote sensing technique by means of satellite data - Differential Interferometry Synthetic Aperture Radar “DInSAR”) within an analysis at territorial scale. Indeed, the activity of monitoring all the overall infrastructure system can represent a useful approach to have a territorial vision of the safety of the infrastructures and can lead to a more sustainable planning. In fact, the involvement of all the reference stakeholders, in relation to this specific territorial issue, can lead to a more organised administrative and economic process. Some preliminary results, shown through thematic maps using the Geographic Information System (GIS), are described for a case study in a sample area in Italy.

Territorial images of Kazakhstan in the perception of the student youth

Since gaining independence, Kazakhstan has undergone significant changes in the territorial structure, which affected social representations of its regions. The authors reconstruct the dominant territorial images of the younger generations that grew up in independent Kazakhstan. The article is based on the results of the mental maps method applied for revealing images of the country. The authors studied the representations of the countrys territories from two geographical positions - the center (Karaganda) and the south (Shymkent). According to the research procedure, the informants drew their version of the countrys map with the most important territorial objects, and proposed associations for the features of certain territories. 80 first- and second-year students were questioned in the higher educational institutions of Shymkent and Karaganda. In the first part of the article, the authors examine the images presented on mental maps, in the second part - associations for regions of the country. Thus, the authors identify three circles of the territorial vision: core, semi-periphery and periphery. The core consists of the place of residence and the cities of republican significance - Almaty and Nur-Sultan (the so-called southern and northern capitals). The dominant images of the core are political, cultural, toponymical and resource. The semi-periphery consists of regional centers with the natural-resource and climatic images, the periphery - of cities far from the students place of residence and of the voids - territories not indicated on the map. The images of the periphery reflect mainly the climatic features of territories. The authors argue that the recognizability of territories in the perception of the student youth reflects a certain hierarchical spatial structure in which the status cities dominate.

Le défi de la performance dans la gouvernance des collectivités territoriales au Maroc : Enjeux et perspectives

Local authorities are key players in carrying out local public policies that meet public needs at the local level. It is within this framework that the new organic laws relating to local authorities have come to instill a new territorial vision in Morocco based on advanced regionalization accentuating the transfer of skills, the strengthening of financial resources and the limitation of administrative control in order to achieve an integrated and sustainable regional development and in order to contribute to the modernization of the structures of the State and to increase its efficiency and its effectiveness for the services rendered to the citizens. Thus, local authorities are now responsible for the new expenditure, whether in the fields of education, urban planning, local economic development or, for some of them, social assistance, etc. To initiate this process and orient it towards results in order to control local public expenditure, and to be part of a performance approach, the introduction of new measures are necessary to ensure effectiveness and efficiency. of local public action, responding at the same time to the imperatives of new public management. However, these instruments are still poorly understood and accepted, as their application requires a profound administrative revolution affecting the behavior of all the actors involved, hence the permanent challenge launched to the actors of public management in general and local in particular. This study, through a documentary and qualitative analysis of previous scientific work, proposes a theoretical model resulting from a variety of strategic approaches which are not exclusively financial in order to introduce the culture of performance within long-term territorial public management.

Resisting the vineyard invasion: Anti-pesticide movements as a vehicle for territorial food democracy and just sustainability transitions

Academic literature has so far explored food democracy and citizen participation in agri-food system governance mainly in relation to the ‘food’ end of agri-food systems, and primarily in urban contexts. We argue that this focus can be usefully extended to agricultural production and to wider territorial processes occurring in rural areas. In this study, we examine the development of a grassroots movement demanding stricter municipal regulation of agricultural pesticide use and support for a more sustainable and localised agri-food system. The study site, located in the north-eastern Italian Alps, has in recent years been characterized by the spread of intensive agriculture, particularly due to the expansion of vineyards. Our conceptual framework brings together the literature on food democracy and just sustainability transitions, seen from a territorial perspective. We use this framework to examine the role played by civil society organisations and alternative food networks in municipal and territorial agri-food system governance. The results show how the grassroots anti-pesticide mobilisation played a key role in reforming municipal pesticide regulations and in slowing down the spread of intensive agriculture in the province. We also draw attention to the framings used by activists to gain the support of public opinion and local administrators. Finally, we discuss the role played by different forms of food democracy processes in facilitating the emergence of a territorial vision of just sustainability transitions.

Technology and Territorial Change in Conflict Settings: Migration Control in the Aegean Sea

AbstractHow does territorial change occur in conflict settings without a radical transformation of state interests and international norms? Territorial change is understood here as the unfolding of nonconflictual territorial visions, actions, and interactions in the absence of sovereignty transfer and/or transformation of the existing status of a disputed territory. This article addresses the question of territorial change in conflict settings by examining Turkey's coastal radar technology as an evolving border security infrastructure in the Aegean Sea. Entailing remotely controlled unmanned stations, mobile vehicles, and drones, Turkey's radar technology generates territorial change. Rather than merely enabling or constraining territorial engagement, technology actively produces territory by transforming it into a nonconflictual state. The altering of territory is achieved by the realignment of security conditioned by and functionally dependent on technology. Radar technology mediates Aegean security in ways that are different from its conventional external-oriented framework targeting another sovereign state. Yet, far from moving away from militarization, radar technology produces irregular migration as a new referent of militarized border security, while simultaneously bringing civilian actors to the fore. Territorial change materializes as technology alters the directionality of territorial vision, transforms “seeing” into “visualization,” and makes possible new types of sovereign violence.

Ethnic Boundaries and Territorial Borders: On the Place of Lezgin Irredentism in the Construction of National Identity in Azerbaijan

AbstractThe Lezgin irredentist movement is one of the less-studied national movements in the post-Soviet space, despite affecting the strategically important Russian-Azerbaijani borderlands and the bordering process between the two post-Soviet states. This article aims to fill this gap and to examine the impact of the Lezgin national movement on the development of territorial nationalism in early post-Soviet Azerbaijan. Based on the analysis of media publications in three Azerbaijani newspapers between 1992 and 1996, I argue that the movement contributed to consolidating the territorial vision of the Azerbaijani nation as incorporating groups historically settled in this territory. While media coverage stressed friendship between ethnic Azerbaijanis and Lezgins, the responsibility for secessionist claims was placed on external forces, particularly Russia and Armenia. In the long term, this framing led to the securitization of ethnic minority activism as a major threat to Azerbaijani statehood.