Luxembourg

Analysing the database of the Luxmobil 2017 survey, this article presents the main outcomes concerning the spatial distributions of employment and modal choices related to commuting of both resident and cross-border workers within the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. This analysis highlights the significant disparities regarding these distributions, the predominant car dependency and the required conditions to achieve a high modal share of public transport. Confronted with the challenging European objective of decarbonisation by the year 2050 and considering the national and supra-regional strategic documents, in order to coordinate urban development with the public transport offer, a voluntarist cross-border ‘transit-oriented development’ policy appears to be necessary. 

Small countries with significant labor needs, Luxembourg and Switzerland both attract a large number of cross-border workers. To compare the two, the 19 authors contributing to this thematic issue analyzed the situation of border workers in the main cross-border employment areas (Luxembourg, Basel, Geneva), and also in Ticino. In considering the contextual and methodological elements the geographers, economists, sociologists and political scientists focus on employment issues, the cross-border everyday life and society’s perception of cross-border workers. This collective, mulitdisplinary approach is summarized by the editors who went on to identify the challenges shared equally by Luxembourg and Switzerland.