ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the role of the Oresund Region in the new spatial policy of the European Union. The main argument develops around an understanding of the interplay between new representations of space, institutions and practices of European spatial planning and their potential contribution to European political integration. The chapter looks into the Øresund Region as a 'transnational laboratory' for the making of European space. It focuses on the potential of the new spatial scale of cross-border institution building, transgressing national boundaries, to contribute to European integration. The chapter looks into two ways of branding the territorial identity of the region, namely as 'Medicon Valley' and as a 'Human Capital'. It closes with some reflections on the significance of this new context for policy development to European integration at the regional level in general, and on the meaning of such a development for the Nordic regions in particular.
