A Political Geography of Polarising Identities: Contested Iconic Places (Routledge Research in Place, Space and Politics) - Softcover

Terlouw, Kees

Softcover

ISBN 10: 103270666X ISBN 13: 9781032706665

Publisher: Routledge, 2025

Synopsis

This book links the current wave of political polarisation to the polarisation taking place between cosmopolitan and parochial identity discourses and their antagonistic valuation of iconic urban and regional places.

Instead of looking for explanations of polarisation only in left-behind regions, this book analyses how societal changes favouring cities, like globalisation and individualisation, created an urban hubris which is now challenged. A careful analysis of the different valuations of specific iconic places like those linked to borders, waterfront apartments, and livestock farms in different Western European countries shows that this polarisation between cosmopolitan and parochial identity discourses goes deeper and further than the rise in support for national populism. It shows the growing spatial polarisation through the enclavisation of the cosmopolitan new bourgeoisie in cities, further polarising the antagonistic valuation of different iconic urban and regional places as either disgusting examples of urban arrogance or parochial bigotry.

The broader spatial and temporal perspective adopted in this book is of interest to anyone who wants to look beyond the national political headlines. It will help students, researchers, human geographers, political scientists, and sociologists better understand the intricate relation between identities, politics, places, and societal developments.

About this title

About the Author

Kees Terlouw is a political geographer and sociologist in the Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. His work focuses on the political usages of spatial identities, especially those related to the governance of local and regional administrations.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 103270666X
• ISBN 13: 9781032706665
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 188