Giancarlo Cotella

The macroregional geopolitics of energy security: towards a new energy world order?

Abstract The aim of this chapter is to build a geographical analysis of political relations, paths, risks and possibilities related to European energy security. Competition for energy is fierce: the availability of secure energy sources is essential for the proper functioning of the economy and energy consumption is expected to increase globally, driven by the economic growth of emerging economies. The chapter analyses strategic areas for Europe energy supply (specifically in terms of oil, natural gas and coal) which are crucial for the geopolitics of Europe. The study proposes some synthetic geographical and qualitative representations and scenarios of European energy geopolitics.

Transboundary Spaces, Policy Diffusion and Planning Cultures-A New Thematic Group for AESOP

Introduction The Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) (http://www.aesop-planning.eu/) has regularly hosted tracks focusing on European territorial cohesion, and transnational and cross-border planning within the context of its annual congresses, coordinated for many years by Andreas Faludi, and more recently by Stefanie Dühr, Jochem de Vries and Wil Zonneveld. Since the AESOP congress in Grenoble in 2003, discussions have been held by academics working on these topics about the possibility of establishing a thematic group. In general, AESOP thematic groups are working groups focusing on specific themes, established in order to create more effective platforms for debate and discussion amongst AESOP members and beyond. Due to their very nature, the activity of each thematic group (as many as fourteen of them exist at the time of writing) depends greatly on the commitment of its members to interact and cooperate in joint initiatives within the scope of the group. Following on from earlier discussions, including a dormant group on Transnational and Cross-border Planning, and reflecting new developments in the field, a new AESOP thematic group on Transboundary Spaces, Policy Diffusion and Planning Cultures (http://www.aesop-planning.eu/blogs/en_GB/transnational-andcross-border-planning) was launched during the 2015 AESOP annual congress in Prague. This thematic group is coordinated by the authors of the present contribution, with the active support of a growing number of scholars from universities around Europe with an interest in the themes. The group is gathering considerable momentum, providing opportunities for exchange during AESOP annual congresses through paper sessions on relevant topics, and has recently organized its first autonomous event. This short contribution aims at presenting the new thematic group on Transboundary Spaces, Policy Diffusion and Planning Cultures to the wider readership of disP – The Planning Review. Firstly, it introduces and details the scope of the group, its background and aims, to then briefly sketch out the process that led to its recent revival. It then reports on information concerning the first thematic group’s symposium, which took place at the University of Kaiserslautern in September 2016, and introduces the main activities that will characterize the group’s life in the near future. Scope, background and aims The AESOP thematic group on Transboundary Spaces, Policy Diffusion and Planning Cultures aims at creating and growing a network of researchers interested in, broadly speaking, the Europeanization and internationalization of spatial planning, and the various forms this takes: from the creation of new, softer planning spaces and corresponding governance arrangements, to the change of policies and practices through ‘travelling ideas’, the institutionalization of EU territorial governance, the relevance of planning traditions and cultures in territorial cooperation, etc. As will be further detailed in the subsections below, the scope of the group is deliberately broad in order to acknowledge the diversity of spatial planning arrangements across Europe and the range of questions that arise from processes of European integration (or dis-integration) for the field of spatial planning and territorial cooperation.

European Union energy policy evolutionary patterns

Abstract During the past 30xa0years the transition towards a low-carbon, energy secure Europe has growingly consolidated as a focal issue for European Union (EU) policies and strategies. As a matter of fact, energy issues have animated the EU political agenda since its very inception, as shown by the development of the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) in 1957. The challenges brought about by European uneven geographies of energy are indeed crucial, especially taking into account the impact of the global economic crisis on the matter. Acknowledging this situation, the chapter presents a chronological overview of EU climate and energy policy to be used as a background against which to read the most recent initiatives as well as to reflect on future potentials and challenges. In particular, the authors explore the current energy regimes of the EU and its Member States, focussing on the capacity to reduce their dependency on external energy sources and to effectively pursue a transition from present energy system to a more sustainable and secure energy system.