Upper Silesia: a changing cross-border region. A field report from a Brazilian geographer

Abstract

This field report deals with a peripheral, or non-central cross-border region between Poland and Czech Republic. It presents some results of bibliographical research and field observations in the cultural-historical region of Silesia (PL: Śląsk; CZ: Slezsko), mainly in its part of Upper Silesia (PL: Górny Śląsk; CZ: Horní Slezsko). After the Introduction, the question of the location and position of cultural-historical Silesia and Upper Silesia is examined between the two countries. In the second place, the spatio-temporal development of the territorial formation of Silesia is presented. In the third place, the most important territorial features of the intensive urbanization process and the Silesian-Moravian agglomeration are treated. In the fourth part, which deals with “peripheral regionalism” in Central Europe, the report tries to show that Upper Silesia is a classic cross-border central region in the sense of a strategic “Heartland” between Poland and Czech Republic. In fifth place, the report addresses the current productive reconversions in Upper Silesia, the closure of coal mines and steel mills considered unproductive, the integration of the periphery into the central macro-regional production networks of the automotive industry, the gradual adaptation to the Paris Agreement, and the search for a service-based economy, mainly through historical and ecological tourism. In sixth and final place, the report addresses cross-border management, focusing on Euroregions, the EGTC Tritia, and functional urban areas (FUAS) in both sides of the countries. A concluding Discussion highlights that the concept of periphery may not be appropriate for Upper Silesia and, to some extent, for the entire cultural-historical Silesia, even though its geo-economic role in production networks is changing today. A brief Post Scriptum highlights the current state of cross-border integration processes, which respond to the uncertainties of nationalisms, the difficulties of integrating processes and productive reconversions, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.