Cross-border Cities Research Articles

Retos transfronterizos de la intervención comunitaria en barrios multiculturales.

This research, which presents a comparative analysis of two crossborder cities of the Pyrenees, aims to identify the dynamics of public-private collaboration that stimulate bottom-up participation in popular multicultural neighborhoods. The methodology is qualitative, using in-depth interviews and participant observation. Similar interventions are detected for promotion of coexistence, labor inclusion and urban renewal, all of them developed through participatory strategies. These community-based interventions respond to the economic and political interests of institutional actors (public and private), as they avoid inequality and cultural diversity in the neoliberal city model. This dissonance would explain the circumvention of citizen participation, and the over representation of technicians and entities who provide services in public institutions.

Convergencia urbana: ¿oportunidades para la colaboración transfronteriza en Matamoros y Brownsville (México-Estados Unidos)?

Aunque las ciudades transfronterizas se extienden a ambos lados de una frontera internacional, su planificación y gestión urbana responde a los límites político-administrativos. La colaboración constituye una estrategia local para resolver esta disfuncionalidad. La convergencia y la divergencia en los retos urbanos pueden beneficiar u obstaculizar las iniciativas de planificación y gestión transfronteriza. Se evalúan las oportunidades de colaboración para el caso de Matamoros-Brownsville, en la frontera México-Estados Unidos, donde se han emprendido varias iniciativas en los últimos 50 años. Se han identificado distintos elementos convergentes y divergentes en los retos urbanos que actualmente afrontan.

Municipal Cooperation Across Securitized Borders in the Post-conflict Environment: The Gulf of Aqaba

Cross-border interaction at the municipal level is central to processes of rescaling of social, economic and political systems to new regional levels. This article analyses processes of rescaling in the post-conflict environment, adding the focus on securitization and local–national power relations to the regional rescaling discourse. Twenty years after the signing of the Israel–Jordan peace treaty, the Gulf of Aqaba serves as a case study for evaluating the stages, mechanisms and barriers of cross-border municipal cooperation between the cities of Aqaba and Eilat. The evolution of structures of cooperation between these municipal authorities demonstrates the potential of cross-border cooperation while continuous deference to national governments serves as a constant reminder of the post-conflict state of relations. Given these political circumstances, it is surprising to discover not the uniqueness of post-conflict cross-border cities but rather how these cities demonstrate compliance with patterns of behaviour of peaceful regions in developing municipal cooperation and realizing opportunities of interdependence.

The Border and Immigrants in Ottawa-Gatineau: Governance Practices and the (Re)Production of a Dual Canadian Citizenship†

Canada's National Capital Region, the metropolitan area of Ottawa-Gatineau, is unique in that it is located on the most politically and symbolically charged border within the country: between the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Although this border has little impact on individuals' everyday mobility, major differences in policies, institutions, and public resources affect residents on either side. In particular, each province has its own governance structures and practices in immigration and settlement. The paper demonstrates that these different structures and practices in immigration and settlement across the border generate two distinct processes of citizenship formation at the local level that serve to (re)produce Canada's two dominant ideals of national identity and citizenship. This case contributes to border studies by showing (1) how internal borders serve to (re)produce multiple, national ideals of identity and citizenship at the city scale, (2) the existence of scalar contradictions in the transborder governance of citizenship and identity, and (3) the significance of processes of identity and citizenship formation in understanding the level of integration between cross-border cities.

Challenges of governance in two cross-border city regions: ‘CENTROPE’ and the ‘EuRegio Salzburg – Berchtesgadener Land – Traunstein’

Since the 1970s, spatial planning and urban/regional development policies have increasingly paid attention to challenges of city regions. In the Austrian context, two city regions are interesting in this respect: CENTROPE and the EuRegio Salzburg – Berchtesgadener Land – Traunstein. CENTROPE is the largest city region in Austria and is located at the borders to three other European countries. Currently, four European Member States are taking part in this cross-border region (Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, and Czech Republic; in total eight partner regions and nine partner cities). EuRegio Salzburg – Berchtesgadener Land – Traunstein covers parts of Bavaria (two ‘Landkreise’) and parts of the federal provinces of Salzburg and Upper Austria. These are cross-border city regions, which are mainly constructed politically and have to deal with a range of governance challenges. Both city regions have developed a certain set of measures to establish city regional governance, particularly through fostering thematically oriented cooperation between different city regional actors. In this article, CENTROPE and the EuRegio Salzburg – Berchtesgadener Land – Traunstein will be analysed comparatively with regard to their efforts to establish cross-border city regional governance. The yardstick for depicting developments regarding governance is derived from the literature about governance and city regional governance as well as by a certain theoretical understanding of space. Accordingly, the article argues for defining and analysing city regions more as places of social and political conflict, as sites of actors’ interests’ formation, hence as places, which are socially produced and reproduced. Against that background, the article will mainly address the following: (1) the most evident challenges for further developing cross-border city-regional governance in both regions, (2) the differences between the two regions in terms of governance structures and (3) relation between certain spatial and governance theories to understand the making of city regions.

The impact of regional integration initiatives and investment in a southern African crossborder region: The Maputo Development Corridor

Abstract

Paired Border Towns or TwinCities from Finland and China

Abstract This paper discusses cross-border cooperation at the level of urban socio-economic systems. Worldwide, cross-border urban cooperation has in several cases produced socio-economic and political coherence supported by various joint programs and efforts. However, the degree of coherence varies and seldom creates socio-economically and politically tightly integrated “Twin-Cities” where the state border becomes highly transparent or obscure. Focusing on Finland and China, our aim is to identify whether the selected border towns represent coherent TwinCities or a more loose type of “paired border towns”. The study uses an empirical examination of three Finnish towns (Helsinki, Tornio, Imatra) and their neighboring towns in Estonia, Sweden, and Russia as a benchmark. Then, a comparative study is made regarding three Chinese cross-border cities facing Russia, Vietnam and Kazakhstan. We highlight the differences in cross-border integration from the viewpoint of shared public sector programs, cross-border ...

Is there really a “border effect”?

The observed excess price variability in cross-border city pairs compared to that in within-country city pairs has been defined as the “border effect.” We used a unique data set from cities that were in the same country at one time and were in two separate countries later on to examine the effects of the presence of a national border on price variability. Interestingly, a border-like effect was detected even during the period when all the cities were in the same country. We also found a large border effect when cities were in two separate countries. However, we found no change in the price variability at cross-border city pairs during the periods both before and after the cities separated into two different countries. This finding suggests that the observed systematic higher variability of consumer prices in cross-border city pairs might not be due to the presence of a border as suggested in the literature.

The impact of Ontario's extended drinking hours on cross-border cities of Windsor and Detroit

Purpose This study evaluated the cross-border safety impact of extended drinking hours from 1:00 to 2:00 a.m., in licensed establishments in Ontario, Canada. Methods This study examined patterns in total and alcohol-related casualties in: (1) Windsor, Ontario, Canada compared to Detroit, Michigan, US with a 2:00 a.m. closing time, and (2) Ontario compared to Michigan for overall trends. The criterion outcome indicators were: (1) monthly motor vehicle casualties (major injuries and fatalities) for the city-regions of Windsor and Detroit and (2) Ontario and Michigan monthly motor vehicle fatalities occurring between 11:00 p.m. and 3:00 a.m. for 4 years pre- and 3 years post-policy change. In order to examine cross-border drinking consequences, data were disaggregated to assess trends of motor vehicle injury collisions involving vehicles with US licence plates and with US drivers aged 16–20 in the Windsor region; similarly trends were assessed for motor vehicle injury collisions involving vehicles with Ontario licence plates in the Detroit region. Results The Windsor region total motor vehicle casualty data showed a non-significant pre–post increase, while the Detroit region showed a statistically significant decrease for total motor vehicle casualties. In the Windsor region, a significant increase was found for alcohol-related motor vehicle casualties after the drinking hours were extended. However, the Detroit region showed a statistically significant decrease in alcohol-related motor vehicle casualties concomitant with Ontario's drinking hour extension. No similar trends were found for the province of Ontario and the state of Michigan as a whole. Moreover, a significant decrease was found for injury collisions involving vehicles with Ontario licence plates in the Detroit region but no similar pattern was found for injury collisions involving vehicles with US licence plates and with 16–20-year-old US drivers in the Windsor region. Discussion These data seem to support a cross-border impact of the Ontario extended drinking policy. A significant increase in alcohol-related motor vehicle casualties was found in the Windsor region and concomitantly, significant decreases in total and alcohol-related motor vehicle casualties were found in the Detroit region after the extended drinking hours amendment. The Ontario government's belief that the extended drinking hour policy would “reduce the number of patrons who cross the border when Ontario's bars and restaurants close” may have been realized.