Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book starts from the presupposition that space/spatiality is a social dimension and a social construct. It aims to present examples of these conceptions of space in work. The book discusses the ambivalences, the ambiguities and contextual variations that complicate any attempts to universalise these ideas. It tries to draw out some of the ways in which space figures in the odyssey. Practising and thinking about space also occur through the medium of language – opening up towards spaces of imaginations. Spaces of flows were supposed to bring about the speed-up of connections between people, but became the means of separation of people. The book implies the plea for scientific approaches to space that overcome binary conceptualisations put forward for recognition of human reciprocity.