Border Temporality and Space Integration in the European Transborder Agglomeration of Basel

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the consequences of border devaluation on integration at the local level, within the framework of European integration. The Basel trans-border agglomeration straddles three countries: Germany, France and Switzerland, of which the latter is not a member of the European Union (EU). At the junction of three fields of geography, that is to say the studies of borders, of urban geography and of temporal geography, the analysis consists in confronting border temporalities, on the European and national scales, with urban temporalities on the regional and local scales. In the long term, European construction consists in creating a political framework that generates an environment of openness and trust, which would be favorable for Basel's transborder urban integration. However, this is not a continuous process, but is rather divided into several stages. In addition, transborder urban integration takes several forms that are not necessarily synchronized. A new stage of integration has been reached since the beginning of the 21st century. The cross-border institutionalization approach adopted by the Canton of Basel City, based on the elaboration of plans and the foundation of a political frame, aims to see an acknowledgement of the City in competition between metropolises on a world-wide level. This political approach seems to be opening up new possibilities in cross-border integration on both morphological and functional levels.