Transborder Economic Development: A Collaborative Partnership in the San Diego-Tijuana Region

Abstract

The study seeks to understand and develop insights into the San Diego-Tijuana transborder economic collaborative partnership, by examining the Binational Planning and Coordination Committee (BPCC). This entity was established in 1993 via a Letter of Agreement between the City of San Diego and the municipality of Tijuana. Pursuant to the Letter of Agreement the BPCC is examined against the backdrop of the global economy, the emergence of region-states, U.S.-Mexico relations and transborder relations in the San Diego-Tijuana region. A qualitative single case-study methodology is applied to explain the role, function, structure, decision making processes and collaborative leadership relationships of the BPCC. The study also addresses the perceived need by some to create sustainable economic development strategies for the region and the necessity to establish a structure that has a broad range of powers and can consolidate the multiple initiatives that exist in the San Diego-Tijuana region. Three themes are identified and synthesized in the analysis of the BPCC, revealing: a) the need for an agenda: how the structure of the BPCC facilitates the purpose and objectives of the Letter of Agreement and how restructuring and/or developing a new institutional entity may facilitate a new economic agenda for the transborder region; b) the need for sustainable economic development strategies; and c) the need for collaboration: the relational importance of transborder collaborative leadership relationships. The findings support the need for the San Diego-Tijuana region to establish a dialogue with the stakeholders and policy-makers of the region on the future direction of the transborder region. The need to restructure the BPCC and/or develop a new overarching structure that would facilitate a new economic agenda for the transborder region is an issue that the San Diego-Tijuana region has to explore in order to respond to the market demands of the region and the global economy.