Editorial: Euroland—economic, cultural and political geographies

Abstract

How does one write the geography of an object like a bridge? Like roads, railways and other objects of what is called civil engineering, bridges are interventions in the physical landscape. Bridges are links across rivers, hills and valleys, configured by the local geomorphology. They also become elements of other complex geographical configurations, involving extended networks of actors. Bridges are both local places and nodes of wider (regional, national and sometimes continental) webs of interaction. To explore how bridges become metaphors and symbols of connection and interchange, we might also seek inspiration from many existing cultural, political and economic geographical writings about iconic structures and monuments. But why our interest in the geographies of bridges? Well, it cannot have escaped the attention of readers of Transactions that images of bridges (as metaphors of connection) appear on the new Euro-notes, which entered into circulation at the New Year. On one side of each note is an arch and on the reverse a bridge (see Figure 1). None of these represent any actually existing bridges. In other words they are simulations, or composites; representations of the architectural styles of bridges that may be found in Europe. They are not images of any real bridges in (or between) European states, but simulated bridges, symbolizing connection, communication and openness. Such an imagination of a connected, networked Europe is a frequent aspect of the language and maps from the European Commission. It is a manifestation of the project of European integration. On the Euros, Europe is being represented as a networked and connected space, parallel to the terms described by Barry in which the European treaties, from Rome (1957), via Maastricht (1991) to Amsterdam (1997) invoke a space of an ever closer union:. . intended to effect a comparatively novel reordering of European space: to produce a spatial order which embodies the metaphor of the network and with a heightened emphasis on the political, economic and cultural importance of mobility. (Barry 1993, 316-17) More widely, banknotes have long carried symbols expressing geographical imaginations. Classically these have been tied up with national imaginaries, the political, economic, cultural (and always territorial) project of sovereign 'nation-states' (Garson 2001), although homogenous and exclusive Figure 1 Building bridges in Europe? Source: European Central Bank