The concept of semantic spaces originates from Yuri Lotman's narrative theory. Lotman, a Russian literary scholar and semiotician, developed a “structural narrative theory” in his publication “The Structure of the Artistic Text” (1977). The most important difference to other narrative theories: It is less about the temporal and more about the spatial organization of narrative texts.
He argues that spaces have always been used as a means of modeling and therefore interpreting reality. For example, for the description of political attitudes (left/right) (cf. Lotman 1972, p. 313) and can therefore also be used for the analysis of constructed realities. Certain elements of the text are viewed in semantic spaces according to their meaning. The deep structure of the text provides information about possible sub-spaces. For example, the spaces “city” and “country” could represent subspaces in a text. These topographical spaces are often semanticized, i.e. a certain meaning is assigned to the spaces. For example, the term “city” could be connoted with “progress”, “dishonesty” and “dirt”, while the term “country” could be connoted with “backwardness”, ‘honesty’ and “naturalness”. Both spaces thus have their own semantics, their own order (diegesis). However, the concept of semantic spaces does not stop at the idea of semanticizing topographical spaces, i.e. analysing the meaning of real spaces and transferring them into a semantic field. Similarly, mental states, attitudes or points of view, but also social differences, can be regarded as semantic spaces. Old age, for example, with all its attendant circumstances, can be interpreted and depicted as a semantic space, which in turn can of course manifest itself in a topographical space. Lotman refers to the universal order of the worlds depicted as diegesis. This comprises the laws and rules according to which the semantic spaces function. These spaces in turn can be divided into strictly separated, disjunctive subspaces.
Its most important characteristic is that it cannot be crossed. The way in which a text is divided by such a boundary is one of its essential characteristics. Whether it is a division into friends and foes, the living and the dead, the poor and the rich, or others, is in itself the same. What is important is something else: the boundary that divides the space must be insurmountable and the inner structure of the two parts must be different. Thus, for example, the space of the fairy tale is clearly divided into ‘house’ and 'forest' (cf. Lotman 1972, S. 327).
A text only becomes the carrier of a story when a narrative structure is present. For Lotman, a narrative structure exists in a text as soon as the text communicates at least one event. For example the displacement of a figure across the boundary of a semantic field. It is irrelevant whether the character crosses the boundary intentionally or unintentionally, consciously or unconsciously. What is essential is that a boundary is crossed. A simple example of a border crossing is the farmer who comes from the countryside to the city. On the one hand, “city” and “country” are naturally topographically separate spaces, and on the other hand, different laws apply in both spaces. The farmer leaves his world order and enters a new one – with completely different laws.

What does this mean for the development of strategic narratives?
The semantic spaces created by Lotman are ideal for analysing narratives around organizations, brands and topics. Particularly helpful: the detection of tensions, (possible) border crossings and (possible) transformations, as they are constituent elements of powerful narratives.