Territories: A Trans-Cultural Journal of Regional Studies

Spatial transformations constitute an important attempt to perpetuate a setting that becomes a stabilizing factor of human consciousness in the course of time. The understanding of spatial transformations becomes directly dependent on the prevailing balance between the unity and the multiplicity of the concepts of space, place, and territory. The paper highlights the importance of spatial transformations with respect to the EU integration undertaking and the fact that the insufficient knowledge of the inherent characteristics of territory poses a threat to the achievement of the territorial cohesion objective. This is so given that both the EU official documents and the EU adopted practices are far from the real meaning – and the achievement – of territorial cohesion. In fact, the conflict of interests and goals, through the demands of hard and soft planning, has an adverse impact on the strength of EU territory. The change of perception and the view of territory through the lens of the specificities of space and place may redefine the way of viewing the EU integration undertaking. In contrast, the social disciplinary, implicitly, contrasts the EU founding values, providing room to national entities to act against the cohesion of the EU territory, thus limiting the desire and willingness to share the common EU vision that is embedded in the EU territory.