  The topology of orientable (2 + 1)d spacetimes can be captured by certain
lumps of non-trivial topology called topological geons. They are the
topological analogues of conventional solitons. We give a description of
topological geons where the degrees of freedom related to topology are
separated from the complete theory that contains metric (dynamical) degrees of
freedom. The formalism also allows us to investigate processes of quantum
topology change. They correspond to creation and annihilation of quantum geons.
Selection rules for such processes are derived.
