[1] It examines how spatial arrangements, urban planning, and territorial boundaries impact societal structures and the distribution of resources, privileges, and disadvantages among different groups.
This can manifest in the design of cities, zoning laws, and the strategic placement of infrastructure, all of which can serve to maintain or challenge existing power structures.
Feminist geography has critiqued and extended traditional approaches to space and place, highlighting the gendered and intersectional dimensions of spatial organisation and inequalities.
It is argued that urban space should be shaped and governed by the citizens that live in it, rather than solely be controlled by market forces such as capitalism and commodification.
However, the concept of planetary urbanisation suggests that rural areas are also mobilised in the pursuit of economic growth, as they undergo changes that serve the city.
[19] Urbanisation is a key debate within spatial politics due to its impact on social, economic, and environmental dynamics within urban spaces.
Within this key debate are important discussions including gentrification and displacement, the role of technology, economic development, democracy and governance, and sustainability.
It involves locations that are imbued with personal, cultural, or communal significance, that highlight its identity and the social values we attribute to it.
Territory, particularly in the modern world, is a conceptual device and an instrument designed for managing a portion of space, and the objects, people, and actions within it.
[25][26] This transformation usually alters the social, spatial, cultural, and economic landscape of the area, which has led many to criticise the impacts of mass-tourism.
Urban transformation has largely taken place in the historical centres of these cities, which were “(re)developed” in order to attract and manage more tourists.
The effects of such redevelopment have been contradictory, as despite being extremely lucrative spaces for a city, touristified historical centres lose some of their history and cultural heritage, which lessens their appeal to tourists.
In the traditional view, informed by an analysis of 19th century metropolises, space is split in two between the urban centre and rural periphery.
[33] Indeed, this analysis speaks of extended urbanisation, which refers to the transformation of rural and peri-urban spaces to integrate them into broad urban networks.
Furthermore, spatial politics analysis points to the fact that urbanisation is no longer limited to specific, recognisable urban centres.
[36] The idea draws an analogy with the real subsumption of labour, originally outlined in Karl Marx's Capital: A critique of political economy.