Physical and Symbolic Borders and Boundaries and How They Unfold in Space

This book critically examines how borders and boundaries, physical and symbolic, unfold in different geographies and spaces. It aims to understand why they exist and how they are constructed, deconstructed, and reconstructed.

The book explores why certain borders/boundaries persist while others are removed, and new ones are erected. It does not focus on one form of border, boundary or geographic location. It shifts its attention to different geographies, borders, and boundaries. It also focuses on intersections between them and how they complete each other. The book provides case studies from the past and present, allowing readers to connect subjects, periods, and geographies. The chapters address classical subjects such as nation-states and tackle novel questions such as ownership against access, that is, of urban infrastructures, COVID-19 and lockdowns, and the divides within digital worlds. The book benefits from visual essays that complement the theoretical and empirical chapters, showing the complexity of the phenomenon in a simple and effective way.

The book will be of interest to academics, researchers, and students working in the fields of urban and rural studies, urban sociology, cities and communities, urban and regional planning, urban anthropology, political sciences and migration studies, human geography, cultural geography, urban anthropology, and visual arts.