System error. Reflections on the permanent failure of territoriality of the European Cohesion Policy

Abstract

The aim of this article is to generate a debate on the definition and application of the territorial approach of future EU Cohesion Policy. Territorial cohesion, its instruments and tools have formed a specific ‘paradigm’, ‘disciplinary matrix’ and ‘vocabulary’. However, a peculiar dichotomy resonates: the EU’s global economic competitiveness objective is (usually) confronted by its territorial cohesion objectives. Permanent failure is generated and anomalies of the territorial cohesion paradigm are on the rise. Are we at the threshold of a new scientific revolution inside the EU and within its territorial cohesion matrix?