Border Futures – Zukunft Grenze – Avenir Frontière. Zukunftsfähigkeit grenzüberschreitender Zusammenarbeit

Border Region

Greater Region and tri-national metropolitan region Upper Rhine

Language(s)

Allemand

Type

Note on a scientific book publication

Main Category

Regional Development – Sustainability

Introduction

This anthology highlights the development of cross-border cooperation in the joint commission (Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft = LAG) Hessen/Rheinland-Pfalz/Saarland and points out development trajectories.

Summary

Border regions such as the Greater Region or the Upper Rhine tri-national metropolitan region extend far beyond their narrow border areas. While the institutional structures of cooperation have been stabilized by agreements and organizations, instruments to be able to react appropriately to the changing framework conditions of cross-border cooperation are lacking. Increasing cross-border interdependencies, economic structural transformation processes, and new energy policies in the national sub-regions as well as demographic change present new challenges for cross-border cooperation. In addition, there are increasing spatial polarizations, which, on the one hand, affect issues of metropolization in urban centers and, on the other hand, concern public services in rural areas and influence the further development and sustainability of the border areas concerned. Building on the work of the working group “Border Futures,” this volume examines the practice-relevant topic of cross-border cooperation with more recent findings from border area research relevant to planning in a European context. On the one hand, the results are to be made usable for the border regions in the LAG area and, on the other hand, introduced into a broader professional discourse on the further development of cross-border cooperation. Questions of a future-oriented cross-border governance, new spatial functionalities as well as new planning instruments play just as important a role as the possibilities of the current programming period of the EU structural policy for border regions.

Content

The aim of the working group “Border Futures” was to examine the practice-relevant topic of cross-border cooperation in the European context using recent findings from border area research relevant to planning. On the one hand, the results should be made usable for the border areas in the LAG area and, on the other hand, the experiences of cross-border practice gained in the area of the LAG should be brought into a broader professional discourse for the further development of cross-border cooperation. The orientation of a future-oriented cross-border governance, new spatial functionalities, as well as new planning instruments play just as important a role as the possibilities of the current programming period of the EU structural policy for border regions. The following questions are of primary concern:

Which current theoretical discourses from border area research are relevant for border areas and which implications arise from this for the border areas in the LAG area?
What concepts and strategies are being developed for the territorial development of border areas and regions and do these correspond to contemporary planning (e.g. metropolitan border regions, cross-border commuters' practice)? What findings can be derived from this for the border areas in the LAG area?
Which fields of action are relevant for border regions in the conflict area of traditional problems (e.g. public services, labor markets, transport situation) and for new challenges (e.g. energy system transformation, cultural heritage)?
What opportunities and obstacles arise for integrated territorial development due to the specific situation of border regions and how can these be used or overcome in a targeted manner?
What general recommendations for action can be formulated for sustainable cross-border cooperation and for the territorial development of border areas, especially considering the situation in the LAG area?

According to the Academy's objectives, the intensive exchange between academics and practitioners in this field was decisive for the formulation of common questions, the collective handling of the topic, and the consolidation of selected fields of action. The working group consisted of members of the LAG Hessen/Rheinland-Pfalz/Saarland and included additional representatives from academics and practice (from the relevant border areas). Over a period of two years, the members of the working group have examined the current practice of cross-border cooperation with current challenges and scientific findings in an intensive professional discourse. In addition to the regular meetings, essential interim results of the working group were presented in a LAG planners' forum and discussed with a broad specialist audience.

Content

Preface

Introduction: Border Futures — Cross-border cooperation in the area of LAG Hessen/Rheinland-Pfalz/Saarland

Part 1: Development trajectory of cross-border cooperation

Development trajectory of cross-border cooperation and the status quo
Theoretical cross-border cooperation: Explanations from European integration, regionalism and governance
A brief portrait of the Greater Region and the Upper Rhine region

Part 2: Strategies for cross-border cooperation in an integrative spatial perspective

Spatial planning in border regions: Walking a tightrope between new models and old planning traditions?
The concept of metropolitan border regions: development, strategies and reorientation
The metropolitanization strategy of the Greater Region in the making

Part 3: Living environments in the border region

Borders — Identities — Home: theory-led approaches to constructs and concepts in the “cross-border” context
Living in border regions – “Where would this take us?”
Cross-border living environments on the Luxembourg border? An empirical approach using the example of border commuters and residential migrants

Part 4: Current fields of action in cross-border cooperation

Cross-border cooperation in the field of action “energy”
Cross-border public transport — barriers remain despite the EU
Interregional cooperation in the Rhine-Alpine Corridor
Securing public services in rural border areas — a study based on the example of the Greater Region
The Greater Region: a cross-border vocational training area?
The action field of cross-border labor market: a priority in the Eurodistrict PAMINA
Use of cultural heritage as a tourist development resource in the border regions of the Greater Region and the Upper Rhine region

Part 5: Outlook: Border Futures — On the way to the sustainability of border regions

Outlook: Border Futures — On the way to the sustainability of border regions

Appendix

The territorial reform in France
Selected cross-border forms of cooperation and INTERREG support in Europe
Abstract

Conclusions

The obstacles and opportunities of cross-border cooperation are addressed from various angles in all chapters. Fundamental aspects that are not new, but are decisive for the success of cooperation processes in border regions, can be found running throughout, almost like a red thread.

On the one hand, language is a fundamental aspect that is important for political and planning coordination and decision-making processes. As a rule, multilingualism cannot be assumed. This makes it more difficult to develop political and planning routines for dealing with complex issues, procedures or even conflict situations.

Another key aspect lies in the different planning cultures. Particularly in a cross-border context, different normative regulations, policies, strategies and plans, but also values and philosophies come into play. Since no change is foreseeable in the future due to the national responsibility for spatial planning, the exchange of knowledge about various planning policies, processes, and instruments will, in the long run, be a core competence in cross-border cooperation.

Particularly in cross-border cooperation at the level of the Greater Region or the Upper Rhine region, different forms of control are evident at the interfaces between interregional and municipal actors. In the sense of lively multi-level governance, the challenge of managing communication and coordination at different levels should be achieved.

In some chapters of this volume, the decisive role of INTERREG support in recent decades has been addressed. However, it should not be overlooked that INTERREG, even if it follows a programmatic structure in its implementation, is based on an incrementalistic approach that usually supports individual projects. Thus, its primary aim is not cross-sectional spatial development.

Metropolitan border regions are now recognized as spatial categories. However, their future-oriented design raises many questions, especially since metropolitan border regions are not homogeneous spaces, but regions with, as a rule, pronounced spatial disparities. In this context, the question of the regional layout for cross-border cooperation also arises.

Key Messages

Despite decades of tradition in cross-border cooperation, significant cross-border developments could not be significantly advanced. Taking on the real “bottlenecks” would be the next dimension of cross-border cooperation.
The role of financial support through the INTERREG Community Initiative has emerged as an important resource for cross-border cooperation. However, human resources are also decisive for the efficient implementation of the cooperation. Equipping cross-border structures and fields of work with their own budgets is a sensible way of improving professionalization and sustainability.
Border regions are particularly suitable for establishing laboratories for comparative approaches and integrative strategies of spatial planning that “function” independently of or in addition to national logics. In these discursive learning processes on spatial planning and development, cross-border responses to changing framework conditions can be interlinked with intercultural discourses.

Lead

Karina Pallagst, Andrea Hartz, Beate Caesar

Author of the entry

Karina

PALLAGST

Contributions

Karina Pallagst, Andrea Hartz, Beate Caesar, Stefan Köhler, H. Peter Dörrenbächer, Thomas Weith, Gerd-Rainer Damm, Petra Schelkmann, Antje Schönwald, Annette Spellerberg, Florian Weber, Katharina Engelhardt, Christian Wille, Ursula Roos, Frank Baur, Barbara Dröschel, Michael Heilmann, Jörg Saalbach, Werner Schreiner, Kirsten Mangels, Julia Wohland, Patrice Harster, Frédéric Siebenhaar, Franz Schafranski, Kristine Clev

Links

https://shop.arl-net.de/border-futures-zukunft-grenze-avenir-frontiere.html

Keywords

Cross-border cooperation

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