Conceptualizing the Logics of Territorial Cohesion

This paper explores the multiple conceptualizations of territorial cohesion on various levels, and specifically in connection with European Union Cohesion Policy instruments. It examines a number of European-wide "storylines" of territorial cohesion, creating a type of "meta-storyline" to show the diversity of ways that the concept is seen in Europe. Secondly, the paper examines how territorial cohesion is explicitly and implicitly conceptualized in Cohesion Policy instruments and asks if there are different logics informing territorial cohesion? If so, when in the discourse and storylines does one logic seem to take precedence over the other and why?