On February 10 and 11, 2022, a two-day online workshop was held on the topic of planning cultures and cross-border spatial planning in the Greater Region.
About 50 participants took part in the event, consisting of students, planning practitioners and politicians from the entire Greater Region (Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Luxembourg, Grand-Est and Wallonia). This interactive and cross-border training included lectures and discussions as well as a business game aimed at developing a cross-border ecoregion through the revitalization of a fictitious industrial wasteland.
The simulation allowed to explore the different approaches in spatial planning within the Greater Region as well as the challenges in the cross-border context, a hitherto underdeveloped field of education and research, to which the working group "Spatial Planning" of the INTERREG project UniGR- Center for Border Studies is dedicated.
The simulation game has already been carried out several times in a similar way. A special feature this time, however, was that in addition to practitioners, politicians and students of spatial planning were also involved. Parallel to the learning process designed for the participants, the researchers collected a lot of data that will be analyzed, processed and communicated through further education, policy papers, projects and scientific publications.
Due to pandemic-related constraints, the simulation took place in online mode, unlike usual. This presented a major technical and logistical challenge. During the implementation, it was important to the organizing team to organize an interactive and communicative event despite the general conditions. The initial assessment of the event is very positive from the point of view of both the participants and the researchers. The event is a good example of how cross-border cooperation can overcome obstacles.