ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents Denmark as a somewhat extreme example of the general European trend towards abolishing national incentive schemes as the main part of spatial economic policy, in favour of various European Union (EU) schemes. It analyses the impact of the economic changes in Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 in relation to the integration process, which is seen as the single most important social force in the process of transition of the Baltic Sea Region. The book also analyses the role of the Oresund Region in the new spatial policy of the EU. It emphasizes the necessity of understanding the importance of the interplay between new representations of space, institutions and practices of European spatial planning and their potential contribution to European political integration.
