The article takes a look back at the emergence of the field of border studies at the beginning of the 21st century. A look back at the emergence of the field at the beginning of the 21st century. It insists on the need to build a common language and shared concepts, but without defending the idea of a single, unified theory. This text puts forward a programme to follow to delve deeper into the research themes in the field, a programme which places a great deal of importance on the analysis and understanding of individual accounts and to everyday experiences from the study field..
This working paper highlights the thematic field of “energy” and presents the challenges which occur in terms of territorial development for the Greater Region. It discusses the energy transition concept and focuses on energy systems and vectors, specifically the development of wind energy and the production of energy from biomass with regard to the development of fossil energy in Germany and France.
In order to analyze the importance of national borders for spatial identities in border regions, a multidimensional analysis model will be developed. Using the example of the SaarLorLux Greater Region, both the representation of space and the organization of the everyday practices of the residents of the region as well as the spatial projections in political discourses are examined. It becomes clear that, despite cross-border interdependencies, national borders play an important role in the residents’ processes of identification with and identification by/of. However, they are not regarded as rigid categories.
Luxembourg has the highest number of cross-border commuters in the EU. They commute daily to the trilingual country from the neighboring countries of Germany, France or Belgium. This results in multifaceted linguistic and cultural constellations of cooperation. This article examines how multilingualism and interculturality are experienced and handled by cross-border commuters in the country. The resulting typologies are based on interviews, interaction analyses and surveys.
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.
The special issue on “Regional Worlds,” edited by Martin Jones and Anssi Paasi, combines various current theoretical perspectives on the region and accompanies this with empirical examples from Europe, Africa, and North America. The issue attempts to address the still-current significance of the region in geography and breaks down old dichotomous conceptualizations of “region” as either territorial or relational, in order to unite the conceptualizations. The authors point out that regions are constructed according to various disciplinary perspectives on different scales (sub-national, national, supranational, cross-border). They contextualize regions in connection with globalization, border regions, agency/advocacy, social construction, and historical processes of development and change.
