Rescaling or Institutional Flexibility? The Experience of the Cross-border Øresund Region

Abstract

This article is based on the experience of the cross-border integration processes across the Øresund strait which separates Denmark from Sweden, and the related institutional and spatial interaction processes. The role of ‘space of flows’ and that of ‘space of place’, or territory, will be examined in relation to this cross-border integration. Several related questions will be addressed: has there been a re-scaling in the form of new cross-border institutions or have existing national and regional institutional structures been able to adapt to the new landscape to which the cross-border integration has given rise? Does a process exist whereby the ‘problem’ and its solution are readily identified and absorbed by existing institutional structures with actions carried out through ‘selective competence delegation’? Based on two case studies, the integration of the labour market and the creation of a cross-border public railway network, the article discusses the institutional and spatial challenges which are consequences of and a context for the co-operation processes in the Øresund Region.