Governing political spaces through “future work” – commentary to Jones

Abstract

This reflections article is a comment upon Rhys Jones’ paper (in this issue) which deals with the geographies of the governance of the future. I suggest that the constant production of governmental imaginaries dealing with the future should be understood as “future work” that is an essential dimension of a broader phenomenon of “territory work” whereby processes of re-territorialization and de-territorialization come together. The active attempt to “know” and cope with the future should be understood as an essential constituent of all governing activities without which the rationality of governance would lose much of its meaning. Governance of the future, as it occurs in governmental practices and associated imaginaries that translate the future into a governable object, is an essential dimension in the ongoing remaking of territories of wealth, power and belonging. This process merits more geographical examination and commentary.