Territorial Science Echo: Demographie und Migration: Anziehung versus Schrumpfung/ Démographie et migration: Attractivité versus contraction

Border Region

Europe, Greater Region

Language(s)

Français

Allemand

Type

Note on a scientific paper, a conference paper, etc.

Politics (Spatial planning, culture, mobility,…)

Portrait of a research project

Main Category

Regional Development – Sustainability

Governance – Power – Cooperation

Theories – Concepts – Terms

Introduction

Territorial Science Echo, Greater Region, demography, ageing, degrowth, migration, cross-border residential mobility, general interest services, health, rural space, challenges, Greater Region spatial planning

Summary

The working paper pertains to the thematic field “demography and migration” and highlights the challenges for territorial development in the Greater Region. Particular emphasis is placed on cross-border residential mobility at borders with the Grand Duchy, on population ageing and on the guarantee of general interest services in rural regions.

Content

The Territorial Science Echo concept was created in the context of the INTERREG UniGR-Center for Border Studies project in 2018. The UniGR-CBS is a cross-border network of approximately 80 researchers from the six member universities of the Greater Region University who work on borders, their significance and their associated challenges. The Territorial Science Echo is used for the cross-border transfer of innovative spatial planning knowledge which researchers of the Center for Border Studies of the Greater Region University (UniGR-CBS) possess; this pertains to politics, society and public administration, and specifically the integration of current research conclusions in the development process of a regional development concept for the Greater Region (SDT-GR).

The expertise of UniGR-CBS researchers therefore contributes to networking the regional development concept of the Greater Region (SDT-GR) through the INTERREG project. Cross-border regions are particularly adapted to the establishment of comparative approach laboratories and integrative strategies for spatial planning and development. These learning processes regarding spatial planning and development further strengthen ties between the responses of research to evolving framework conditions and the needs of society. The innovative conclusions of the UniGR-CBS researchers are therefore immediately made accessible for the practice of spatial planning and development, which strengthens cross-border governance in the field of spatial planning and considers it from a competitive viewpoint.
It is furthermore planned to make scientific discourses specifically usable by the SDT-GR. To this end, brief summary reports based on the current research conclusions of UniGR-CBS and representing five important thematic fields for the future development of the Greater Region, defined in agreement with the SDT-GR (“demography and migration”- “mobility, transport infrastructures and public transport” – “employment and economic development” – “energy” – “governance and external relations of the Greater Region”) and highlighting the challenges occurring in the Greater Region, were integrated.

These reports were drawn up by teams of authors from the six partner universities of the UniGR in all the thematic fields, with the guideline to present the results in a brief and understandable form and in a concise format (approximately 10 pages per thematic field). In November 2018, a common workshop for UniGR-CBS searchers and the scientific committee assisting in the performance of the SDT-GR, as well as for the parties involved in the Greater Region was organised. This workshop aimed to place the reflection on spatial planning in a scientific perspective. The thematic documents were published as part of the new series of UniGR-CBS working papers.

The dialogue initiated between UniGR-CBS researchers and the parties involved in the Greater Region is experimented through the SDT-GR project and should therefore be strengthened in the long run with the aim to guarantee future tasks related to spatial planning. In this context, it is planned to continue the Territorial Science Echo once INTERREG’s support ends as part of the UniGR-CBS.

Table of contents:

Vorwort/ Preface
Die Großregion zwischen Bevölkerungswachstum und Schrumpfung: Einleitung/ The Greater Region between growth and the decline of its population: Introduction
Grenzüberschreitende Wohnmobilität/ Cross-border residential mobility
Grenzüberschreitende Annäherung an das Phänomen der Alterung – oder: Alterung grenzüberschreitend denken/ For a cross-border approach to ageing
Sicherung der Daseinsvorsorge im Bereich Gesundheit in ländlichen Grenzräumen der Großregion/ Guaranteed services of general interest in terms of health in the cross-border rural spaces of the Greater Region
Herausforderungen für die Großregion/ Challenges for the Greater Region
Literatur/ References

Conclusions

The demographic situation of the Greater Region entails important challenges for it in the future, especially given the great discrepancies between growth and population decrease.

The pressure exerted on the housing market, especially by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, which is a major economic driver of the Greater Region and is therefore very attractive, also increases the pressure on the housing market in border regions, as people will also be looking for accommodation spaces in neighbouring municipalities in the future. This residential mobility increases the pressure on the housing development policy with the aim to provide more accommodation space. Furthermore, traffic is also increasing due to the development of border dwelling.

As the need for accommodation spaces increases in certain areas, there will also be more and more vacant accommodations or unused buildings in other parts of the Greater Region. The targeted settlement of refugees, and especially families of refugees, will only partially work out, as the number of newcomers must always be reasonably proportional to the resident population in order to ensure reasonable integration. Generally, however, this measure is likely to slow down desertification processes.

From an operational viewpoint, different solution approaches are offered according to the various countries, ensuring the provision of basic medical care, inpatient and outpatient care as well as hospital and nursing home care.

Key Messages

Due to the existing pressure in the housing market, sustainable cross-border mobility concepts should be promoted, taking into account municipalities located immediately next to the Grand Duchy as well as those located at a certain distance, the latter being also subject to increasing pressure. These mobility concepts should also take into account the fact that border dwellers do not all work in Luxembourg City, and that additional communication nodes will therefore also have to be created for public transport in order to encourage people to use the train and the bus.

The increasing segregation related to new allotments should also be prevented through the implementation of more inclusive concepts in order to avoid the occurrence of “dormitory towns”.

To prevent vacant spaces in the future, innovative concepts will have to be developed, as well as decommissioning strategies in order to maintain quality of life in the relevant municipalities.

For public authorities, it is useful to have comparative elements regarding approaches in terms of basic medical care, inpatient and outpatient care and hospital and nursing home care in order to promote mutual learning, as well as to balance various needs in terms of space and to initiate cooperation projects.

Lead

Beate Caesar & Karina Pallagst (Technische Universität Kaiserslautern (Hrsg.)),

Author of the entry

Beate

CAESAR

Links

https://ubt.opus.hbz-nrw.de/opus45-ubtr/frontdoor/deliver/index/docId/1168/file/UniGR-CBS_Working+Paper+Vol.+1.pdf

Keywords