ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the interactions of both relational and territorial forms of political space, which, together, shape the actual dynamics of city-regionalism, city networks and the role of more explicitly independent and locally opportunistic city politics. "Smartness" provides a redefining context for city-regionalism in the attempt to reconcile competing, even conflicting, but certainly dynamic, ambitions and agendas, primarily through using existing structures, mechanisms and tools in a creative, novel way. The chapter discusses the new spaces of "clubbing together", a general term which captures an array of new activities around territorial governance at various scales of activity. It argues that such spaces are often "softly" institutionalized in order to avoid threatening both traditional local entities and higher-scale political authorities. The concept of "transition" is developed as a key factor circumscribing the political-economic milieu under which city regionalism operates, identifies its agendas and faces challenges to modify established procedures.
