Mapping the Scene: Cartographic sketches on the EUSALP cross-cutting priorities

The Swiss Presidency of the EU Alpine Strategy (EUSALP) 2023 has focused on transversal topics and their political relevance. At the end of the presidency, the Annual Forum and the General Assembly took place in Bad Ragaz (19th Oct 2023), where four cross-cutting priorities were discussed: a) Promoting Digitalisation for the Alps, b) Accelerating the Energy Transition for a Carbon-Neutral Alpine Region, c) Promoting a Joint Water Management Transition and d) Boosting Circular Economy. We were...

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Cross-border mobility: Rail or road?

In our latest article, we position different modes of transport in border regions by developing a new methodological approach. The key elements are ‘space-time-lines’, combined with an indexation approach. Both build on open-source data and allow for comparative analysis and visualization of cross-border mobility and accessibility. The results show that (a) the process of catching up in terms of cross-border accessibility is not yet complete, and (b) some regions show tunnel effects, as cross...

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The regional dimension in GPN – Mapping value creation and governance of the Bavarian beer sector

The global beer market is characterised by strong concentration tendencies. In contrast, the Bavarian production system is characterised by a high degree of regionality and value creation. Using the example of Bavarian beer, our new study shows how the value creation of regional production systems goes along with the underlying governance patterns. The governance in production systems has long been approached primarily from a global perspective. Given recent regionalisation debates, we focus ...

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Grenzraumakademie ’23 – Grenzregionen Deutschlands mit seinen Nachbarländern

  Am 20./21. April 2023 fand in Berlin die ‚Grenzraumakademie‘ statt. Diese Veranstaltung brachte ca. 130 Gästen aus den Grenzregionen Deutschlands und den Nachbarstaaten in den Austausch mit Expertinnen und Experten verschiedener Politikbereiche und -ebenen.   Die Ver­anstaltung war durch ein Forschungsprojekt initiiert: Das Projekt CoBo ‚Cohesion in Border Regions‘ wird von der Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg und der Universität St. Gallen bearbeitet (Januar 2021 bis Dezember ...

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Digitale Toolbox zur Ortsbindung in ländlichen Regionen

Die Ortsbindung in ländlichen Räumen stärken und dafür die Potenziale der Digitalisierung nutzen? Praktisches Wissen dazu haben wir in einer "Digitalen Toolbox" gesammelt und aufbereitet: www.heidi-toolbox.de Im Rahmen des Forschungsprojektes "HeiDi" (Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft / Bundesanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Ernährung 2020-2023) haben wir anhand von rund 200 Projekten und Gesprächen mit vielfältigen Akteuren der ländlichen Entwicklung jede Menge Praxiswissen g...

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The COVID-19 pandemic as a catalyst for cross-border cooperation? What have we learnt for border-regional resilience?

Our recent study addresses border-regional resilience in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and focuses on German border regions. The main objective is to shed light on vulnerability, resistance, adaptability, and recoverability in the border-regional context. Our key questions are: To what extent were the German border regions affected and what differences can be seen among them? What impact does the pandemic have on future resilience of cross-border cooperation? What options do border region...

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European border regions: more or less resilient than non-border regions?

The ongoing times of poly-crises raise fundamental questions for border regions: How do crises affect convergence processes in border regions? Are border regions more resilient than non-border regions? In what ways are convergence and resilience interconnected?   Our recent study shows, first, that border regions are more affected in the short term, but recover more quickly from the crisis. This finding calls for policy reflections on how to improve short-term resistance in b...

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How to overcome the ‘size problem’ of the Alpine settlement system?

The Alpine settlement system is of key relevance for sustainable development in the mountain region. However, maps on the European scale indicate almost no cities in the Alps but only a few small towns. The Alpine region seems to be an ‘empty’ space (see, e.g. Atlas for the Territorial Agenda 2030). We argue that a differentiated mapping approach should involve medium and small settlements in mountain regions, as they have a high functional importance for the surrounding area.   Our r...

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9. Alpenzustandsbericht zum Thema „Alpine Towns“

Welche Rolle spielen Städte und das alpine Siedlungssystem für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung der Alpen? Dieser Frage geht der 9. Alpenzustandsbericht (RSA9) zum Thema „Alpine Towns“ nach. Tobias Chilla, Dominik Bertram und Markus Lambracht sind die Autoren des analytischen Berichts (Part 1: Facts, Maps and Scientific Debates) – der ergänzt wird durch einen Szenarien-Teil (Part 2: Five Pictures of the Future) und politische Überlegungen (Four Postulates of Sustainable Urban Development). Di...

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Roles beyond size? Investigating polycentricity and accessibility of small towns in the Alps

Fair accessibility to services of general interest is a considerable challenge in mountain regions due to low population density and morphological context (see, ESPON Alps2050). However, the centrality debate has hardly taken morphology into account, even though mountain areas require a specific form of spatial organization. A lower level of accessibility leads either to longer distances and travel times or (in the better case) to increased service supply in smaller settlements. Our recently ...

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