Questions of borders and mobility : de- and re-territorialising approaches to urban and regional planning policy and governance

Using the conceptual frameworks of the ‘mobility turn’, ‘relational regions’ and de/reterritorialization this chapter has advocated an agenda for planning across borders that requires more flexible and relational, but also equitable and sustainable, urban and regional policy approaches. Not only does this require a different way of thinking that is far less bounded or ‘bordered’ both spatially and institutionally, but needs to hold in tension, the often dichotomous, concepts of borders, place and mobility. In light of these challenges, we have drawn on international examples of multi-level governance and place-based development which, in our assessment, offers an insight into how more conducive planning approaches could be reassembled and enabled in an Australian context, an approach that could be applied to both region and metropolitan areas. In sum, we have argued for a reterritorialization of planning governance and policy in Australia with a considerably more pronounced leadership role at the federal level in the context of spatial policy.